Barry Loudermilk, who represents Georgia’s 11th Congressional district, praised Donald Trump’s performance in Helsinki, which has been widely criticized by both Democrats and many Republicans, and which John McCain called “one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president.”

Loudermilk in One America News interview

In an interview on One America News Network, a conservative cable television channel based in California, Loudermilk said:

If you can parse out all the hysteria that is happening on the Left, over one statement that was made, I think you’ll find out that he achieved the objective that he set out to which is establishing a relationship with Putin.  Look, I served in the United States Air Force in intelligence during the Cold War.  I know how ruthless Russia, former Soviet Union, can be. I know how ruthless a lot of their leaders are. Look, they don’t hold the same values that we hold here in the United States. And so we have to understand that.  But we also have to understand that peace is always a better option than war. And if you look at the rhetoric that’s coming from the far left, it’s almost like they’d rather us be at war with Russia, than actually trying to keep the two nuclear superpowers in a position of stability. His objective was to create a relationship.  He never said he would walk out of there with any agreements. And yet we focus on one statement which if you look at the actions of President Trump, leading up to this summit … the sanctions that we placed on Russia, the attacks on Syria that actually cost Russian lives, trying to force our NATO allies to actually come to the table and spend more in defense against Russia, all of his actions including numerous times stating the Russians did interfere in our elections.. He knows that. But instead it’s almost like the other side, instead of coming to the table, and working on these important issues, like national security, like border security.  They’re just in the wings waiting for one little thing to jump on.

Loudermilk also accused the Democratic Party of asking Russia to meddle in the 1980 election between then-President Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.

Watch the entire interview below