Russian President Vladamir Putin continues to support the rebels in Ukraine because he feels empowered by a "vulnerable America" and "vulnerable NATO," former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Pete Hoekstra tells Newsmax.
"Number one, what Putin is doing is he's solidifying the gains that they've made over the last three to six months," Hoekstra told J.D. Hayworth on "America's Forum" on
Newsmax TV Thursday.
Story continues below video
Note: Watch Newsmax TV now on DIRECTV Ch. 349 and DISH Ch. 223
Get Newsmax TV on your cable system – Click Here Now
"The second thing is, he's exercising their influence with the expectation that he may expand it," he explained.
"Whether he expands it into the Baltics, additional parts of Ukraine, that's kind of uncertain, but Putin feels empowered right now," Hoekstra said.
"He sees a vulnerable America, he sees the vulnerable NATO, and he's going to take advantage of it to strengthen Russia's position," he added.
According to Hoekstra, Putin is making advances because he doesn't "expect America or NATO to do anything in response that threatens or weakens his position or effectively puts sanctions or restraints on Russia that jeopardizes his personal position in Russia."
"He's playing to a home audience, but what he's finding is as he's playing to a home audience, he's also able to make gains in the rest of Europe to strengthen Russia's position," he explained.
"For him right now it's all win, win, win," he said.
And all Putin is hearing from the West is "rhetoric . . . with very, very little impact," he added.
The United States is in the process of cutting a nuclear deal with Iran, something Russia did earlier in November, when Russia's nuclear power company agreed to build two nuclear reactors in the Middle Eastern country.
Story continues below video
Hoekstra says that any deal with Iran that would ease sanctions on its nuclear program "is exactly the wrong thing to do."
"Iran is going to win on this because America wants a deal. We don't want a good deal, we just want a deal," he explained.
"This is going on at the same time that our Sunni allies are very, very leery of what's happening in the Middle East, and they're very leery of Iran," he said.
"We're cozying up to Iran and the folks that we need to be working with, the Sunnis, to contain ISIS — they're very skeptical of the U.S.," he contends.
"This is exactly the wrong direction for America to be going at this time," Hoekstra added.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.