Barrasso: Clinton's Treaty Left US Behind Russia In Nuclear Arms

An "unholy alliance" between Russia, Syria, and Iran has developed, and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton herself was the person who negotiated a treaty that left Russia with far more nuclear warheads than the United States' arsenal, Sen. John Barrasso said Wednesday.

"When that went into place, the United States had 250 more nuclear warheads [than Russia] the Wyoming Republican told Fox News' "America's Newsroom" program. "Now, Russia has 400 more nuclear warheads than the United States. That's what Hillary Clinton negotiated."

Her running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, and also knows the effects of the agreement, the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or New START.

Clinton and Kaine have played up the agreement, including in a television ad saying she is responsible for "securing a massive reduction in nuclear weapons." The agreement limits the number of deployed strategic nuclear warheads, but according to factcheck.org, Russia was below the limit for such weapons when the treaty took effect in 2011, but has since increased the warheads.

The United States needs to change directions fundamentally, said Barrasso, so "people can see how strong we are . . . what the American people want is for the country to be the most powerful and respected worldwide," the senator said. "With regard to Russia, we need to reaffirm what is going on with NATO, strengthen our relationships there."

Meanwhile, Barrasso said he believes Pence had a "terrific night" against Kaine in Tuesday night's debate, and that makes it "obvious why Donald Trump chose him."

"Mike Pence made the case about the importance of changing the relationship the way we're looked at worldwide," Barrasso said. "We need to change the policy of weakness with a policy of strength. People like Vladimir Putin can smell the weakness."

Barrasso said the United States should also be doing more in terms of fighting back against cyberattacks, including using "energy as a weapon, a weapon of power."

"We have such an abundance, yet, the president and environmentalists have shut us down," Barrasso said. "We are a world energy power. We ought to be leading the way on that."

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