Joshua Roberts/Reuters
The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations on Sunday hit back against claims President Trump is too soft on Russia, saying the White House is fully prepared to take action against the Kremlin for alleged election meddling. In a series of television interviews broadcast Sunday, Nikki Haley said Trump had “not once” told her to stop “beating up on Russia” for its actions in Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea. Haley also said Trump fully supports taking action against Russia if an investigation shows that it interfered in the November vote. In comments on ABC’s This Week and CBS’s Face the Nation, Haley made it clear she believes Russia “was involved in the election.” “We don’t want any country involved in our elections, ever,” she said. “We need to be very strong on that.” Haley’s comments seemed to be at odds with Trump’s public stance on the matter, as the president on Sunday reiterated his previous claims that stories about Russia’s election meddling were “fake news.” “It is the same Fake News Media that said there is ‘no path to victory for Trump’ that is now pushing the phony Russia story. A total scam!” Trump wrote on Twitter. When questioned about Trump’s public stance on Russia and whether it should be harder, Haley said, “Of course, he’s got a lot of things he’s doing.” “There’s no love or anything going on with Russia right now,” she said, adding that Russia realizes “we’re getting our strength back, that we’re getting our voice back, and that we’re starting to lead again.”