Mike Pompeo Says U.S. Should Be 'Crushing the Russians' Via European Energy

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the U.S. should be "crushing the Russians" by helping to end Europe's dependence on its eastern neighbor for its gas supplies, as he criticized President Joe Biden's handling of the crisis in Ukraine.

Pompeo told Fox News' Sean Hannity on Thursday that U.S. policy was enabling Russian oil and gas exports, strengthening the Russian economy and harming the U.S.

President Biden will host a call with NATO allies on Friday as tensions remain high and the administration has repeatedly warned that an invasion of Ukraine could be imminent.

Pompeo, who served in the Trump administration, told Hannity: "We demonstrated weakness with respect to the Russians for the entire 14 months of this administration."

The former secretary of state referred to a nuclear treaty agreed between the U.S. and Russia and the lifting of sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.

"And then we did the worst thing," Pompeo said. "We shut down American natural gas and crude oil production - giving Vladimir Putin $93 or $100 a barrel on the crude oil from his country."

"We put his economy on super warp and we harmed ours and lost jobs here at home," he said.

Pompeo appeared to be referring to Biden's suspension of new oil and gas leases on public lands and waters through an executive order in January 2021, and the administration's efforts to reform the leasing program.

Hannnity said that the U.S. should supply allies in western Europe with energy and pointed to U.S. gas, oil and coal. Pompeo agreed with the sentiment.

"We have cheap affordable energy here at home and we have the capacity to ship it at a really good cost to our European friends and allies," Pompeo said. "We should be crushing the Russians with this."

Russia is Europe's largest supplier of natural gas and there were concerns late last year about energy supplies to the continent amid high global demand for gas and oil.

Amos Hochstein, senior adviser for energy security at the U.S. State Department, warned in October that the Russian government could use gas as a political weapon.

"I think we are getting close to that line if Russia indeed has the gas to supply and it chooses not to, and it will only do so if Europe accedes to other demands that are completely unrelated," Hochstein said.

Pompeo also criticized ongoing talks in Vienna aimed at reviving a 2015 nuclear deal. Russia is one of several countries represented at the talks and a deal may involve lifting sanctions that have seen Iranian oil exports slashed, but it's unclear when a deal might be reached.

"This is an enormous sign of weakness," Pompeo said of the talks. "This is a failure of American foreign policy in the fundamental deterrence sense that Reagan had and that we had for our four years."

The former secretary of state also said that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov "will eat our secretary of state's lunch if we don't demonstrate American resolve and the capacity and willingness to do the right things for our friends."

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is due to meet Lavrov next week.

Newsweek has asked the White House for comment.