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WASHINGTON, U.S. – Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo touched on many foreign policy issues, including tensions with Iran and the progress being made towards thawing relations with North Korea.

However, Pompeo categorically dodged questions relations to U.S. President Donald Trump’s closed-door meeting with the Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki last week. 

Instead of sharing information on the meeting, Pompeo repeatedly stressed on Trump’s right to private meetings and remained conspicuous on the President’s relationship with Putin and the fallout of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. Presidential election.

In the hearing on Wednesday, which lasted several hours, Pompeo however clarified that the U.S. rejects Russia’s attempted annexation of Crimea and called on Moscow to end its occupation of the territory.

In a statement issued prior to his appearance before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Pompeo said, “In concert with allies, partners and the international community, the United States rejects Russia’s attempted annexation of Crimea and pledges to maintain this policy until Ukraine’s territorial integrity is restored.”

He added that the U.S. calls on Russia “to respect the principles to which it has long claimed to adhere and to end its occupation of Crimea.”

Adding, “As democratic states seek to build a free, just and prosperous world, we must uphold our commitment to the international principle of sovereign equality and respect the territorial integrity of other states. Through its actions, Russia has acted in a manner unworthy of a great nation and has chosen to isolate itself from the international community.”

Then, using the declaration, in his opening remarks to the committee, Pompeo said, “I want to assure this committee that the United States does not and will not recognize the Kremlin’s purported annexation of Crimea. Russia will see no relief on Crimea-related sanctions until it returns control of the Crimean Peninsula to Ukraine.”

His appearance before the committee marked the first time lawmakers had a chance to grill him since Trump generated bipartisan criticism following his summit with Putin in Helsinki.

During his joint news conference with Putin after the two leaders met privately for over an hour, Trump openly questioned his own intelligence agencies’ conclusions that Russia was to blame for meddling in the 2016 U.S. election to Trump’s benefit.

Trump also seemed to accept Putin’s insistence that Russia played no role in the American election and that the accusations against it are all false.

Trump declared, “I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.”

Trump pointed out that he and Putin “spent a great deal of time” discussing allegations of Russian election meddling but, at the end of it, the U.S. President declined the opportunity to denounce Putin for the interference efforts.

He, instead, repeatedly denounced Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference efforts, and even though American intelligence officials have warned that such interference efforts are ongoing – Trump said, “I don’t see any reason why Russia would interfere in the 2016 election.”

He declared, “We ran a brilliant campaign and that’s why I’m president.”

Then, 24 hours after the summit, and faced with growing bipartisan condemnation over his statements, Trump did a u-turn and said that he actually just “misspoke.”

Trump argued that he “had misspoken” in Helsinki and actually meant to say that Russia “did have reason to meddle in the U.S. election.”

Further, the president also said that he actually backed the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment that Moscow interfered in his 2016 Presidential race and stressed that he had “full faith and support” for the American intelligence community.

He said, “I have felt very strongly that while Russia’s actions had no impact at all on the outcome of the election, let me be totally clear in saying…that I accept our American intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election took place.”

Trump added however, “Could be other people also, there’s a lot of people out there.”

So far, Trump has not disclosed what he and Putin discussed during their controversial, closed-door tete-a-tete and Senators were hoping Pompeo would provide clarity on what transpired during that meeting.

In the testy hearing, Pompeo evaded questions on the private meeting, but stressed what he described as the Trump administration’s many accomplishments overseas. 

He said, “There’s a long list, and I’m happy to go through it.”

He added, “Presidents are entitled to have private meetings.”

Unsatisfied with his response, Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, the committee’s ranking Democrat, told Pompeo, “We find ourselves in an unimaginable situation. The American people, elected officials in this body, and members of the President’s own cabinet have heard more about the meeting in Helsinki from Putin and his associates than from our President.”

Menendez reportedly repeatedly asked Pompeo if Trump had disclosed to him what was discussed with Putin behind closed doors – but Pompeo responded, “The predicate of your question implied that there was something improper about having a one-on-one conversation.”

Later, Sen. Tom Udall, a New Mexico Democrat, asked Pompeo if he was “100 percent confident” that he “know[s] everything Trump discussed with Putin.”

To which, Pompeo responded, “I’m very confident that I received a very comprehensive debriefing from President Trump.”

The Secretary of State also declined to comment on any of Trump’s business dealings in Russia.

He said he was hoping to avoid the “political circus” and said that he is rejecting any allegation that Trump is sympathetic to Putin’s Russia.

Pompeo claimed, “The same President you’re so concerned about is engaged in a massive defense buildup that threatens Vladimir Putin’s regime. He’s kicked out 60 spies. We put $11 billion into European defense.”

When questioned about additional sanctions on Russia, Pompeo essentially endorsed such a move.

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio as Pompeo whether he believed additional sanctions would be one way to discourage Putin from interfering in this fall’s election, Pompeo said, “I do, senator. If we can find the right places and the right leverage points … I think it would be constructive to head down that path.”

Currently, Republicans and Democrats in Congress have been planning more sanctions on Russia, emboldened especially after Trump’s Helsinki stint. 

The committee’s chairman Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee too grilled Pompeo over Trump’s remarks about Russian interference in 2016 that called into question the authority of the FBI, 

In his opening remarks, Corker declared that senators have “serious doubts” about how the Trump administration carries out foreign policy and suggested the White House “is making it up as they go.”

Corker said, “It’s the President who causes people to have concerns. I’d love to have some insights. To create an equivalence between our intelligence agencies and the Russians — that shocks people. Why does he do these things? Is there some strategy behind creating doubt in the minds of the American people? We have tremendous faith in you, tremendous faith in [Secretary of Defense James] Mattis. It’s the President.”

Pompeo responded, “I disagree with most of what you just said there. You somehow disconnect the administration from the President. Here’s what the world needs to know: this administration has been tougher [on Russia] than any other past administration.”

He added, “There’s this misconception that this administration is free-floating. Make no mistake: this is President Trump’s administration. He’s fully in charge of this.”

Meanwhile, lawmakers also discussed efforts made by Pompeo towards the thawing relations with North Korea and the progress being made towards Trump’s historic summit with the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in June.

When asked if the U.S. was working with Pyongyang towards North Korea’s denuclearization, Pompeo responded, “Absolutely. We are sitting at the table having conversations.” 

However, when asked to elaborate on the advancements made so far, Pompeo said, “May I answer that question in a different setting?”

As the hearing ended however, Menendez said his conclusion from Pompeo’s three hours of testimony was that “this administration is increasingly not transparent” and that when it comes to North Korea, “we have no agreements on anything.”

Menendez fumed, “The best I can glean is that they understand what we mean by denuclearization, but they have not agreed to that definition.”

To which, Pompeo responded by accusing Menendez of delivering “a political soliloquy.”