Condi Rice: ‘I Have No Problem’ with Trump Meeting with Erdogan or Putin; ‘He Has To’

‘Democracy promotion actually is very often not very expensive’

RUSH EXCERPT:
RICE: "Well, I think it’s early in the administration. There’s something about the presidency that you recognize over time the tremendous — not just responsibility, but the weight that it carries. And of course we’re going to have to deal with the president of Egypt. Of course we’re going to have to deal with the president of Turkey. But it’s well to remember too that our interests and our values suggest that when countries that we have good relations with and want good relations with actually reform before there are revolutions our interests are served too. And I think that if the United States — and democracy promotion actually is very often not very expensive. It’s supporting elections, supporting the building of civil societies, supporting a free press abroad. So I have no problem with the president meeting with those leaders. He has to. But we always need to speak for our values as well. And our values are the belief that we were endowed with certain rights by our creator. It can’t be true for just us and not for them."

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