Mollie Hemingway: Trump's Russian Oil Deal Puts The American People First, "We're Not At War With Russia"
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2026/10/12/mollie_hemingway_trumps_russian_oil_deal_puts_the_american_people_first_were_not_at_war_with_russia.html

"Federalist" editor-in-chief Mollie Hemingway joined FOX News anchor Bret Baier on "Special Report" to defend President Donald Trump's approach to Russian oil amid criticism.

BRET BAIER: Mollie, you know, after we saw the Lindsey Graham bill pass the House and the Senate, it enabled the U.S. to launch sanctions on anybody that was doing deals with the Russians, buying Russian oil or diesel, and then we did a deal. Here's some former Trump staffers and the president reacting to some of that criticism.

KT MCFARLAND, FORMER DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: The question will be, is the United States going to somehow be helping Russia continue to fight this war?

MIKE POMPEO, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Giving Vladimir Putin more money is akin to underwriting the Iranians as well.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: These are Republicans that can't really be serious. We have, you know, we make a lot of oil. We could do a restriction on oil, but the rest of the world would be greatly, greatly affected if we do that.

BAIER: So your thoughts on this and kind of the fallout from it?

MOLLIE HEMINGWAY: Well, the legislation mentioned does include a provision that the president can work within the restrictions of the sanctions. But I think what President Trump is trying to do here is put the American people first and let them have an interest in this ongoing, lengthy war between Russia and Ukraine. People in America are suffering. Farmers in Nebraska, Kansas, and Iowa who are dealing with very high diesel prices. Just normal Americans who are struggling to fill up their tanks at the pump. And diesel is something that Russia has a lot of.

Contrary to what some of those people seem to be suggesting, we're not actually at war with Russia. We're not at war with China. We do make arrangements with both of these countries, adversarial though they may be.

And Americans are very happy to help Ukraine, but not when it's hurting American interests as much as this is currently. We've given hundreds of billions of dollars. We provide the technology, weapons, intelligence, and we're happy to do that in their efforts. But again, this war, which has been going on for a long time and seems to not be near resolution unless the parties admit the reality of what's going on, is hurting Americans in a way and President Trump seems to be caring about it more than those voices in D.C. who tend to support lengthy wars.