Secretaries Pompeo, Mattis Defend Trump Foreign Policy Moves At Stanford University

STANFORD (KPIX 5) -- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary James Mattis defended the Trump administration during a gathering in the Bay Area Tuesday.

The secretaries spoke with their Australian counterparts at what was called a press conference during the Australia-U.S. Ministerial Consultations (AUSMIN) at the Hoover Institution on the campus of Stanford University. However, the only people who could ask questions were pre-selected, starting with Fox News.

It was the first public comments by cabinet members following President Trump's all-caps tweet to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, threatening "CONSEQUENCES THE LIKE OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE."

"So I think the President was making very clear that they're on the wrong track," said Secretary Mattis.

Mattis blamed Iran for the war in Syria and unrest in Yemen and Bahrain. "It cannot continue to show irresponsibility as some revolutionary organization that is intent on exporting terrorism, exporting disruption across the region," he said.

The defense secretary maintained Iran must begin to change. "It cannot continue to show irresponsibility as some revolutionary organization that is intent on exporting terrorism, exporting disruption across the region," said Mattis.

Secretary Pompeo touched on the U.S.-Russia summit in Helsinki, specifically questions on what was agreed to at the summit. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Monday, "The only specific agreement that was made was that the two national security teams would continue these discussions."

But Russia's ambassador to the U.S. seemed to disagree, saying "important verbal agreements" were made.

Secretary Pompeo was asked to explain. "The President has been clear about some of the things that were agreed to. We're going to begin to put together a business council, there'll be places we'll start track two processes, there were many things that came from what I view as an incredibly important meeting between President Trump and President Putin." said Pompeo.

Secretary Pompeo will testify Wednesday at the Senate Foreign Relations committee, where he will no doubt be asked about the agreements again.

"I am looking forward to testifying tomorrow," said Pompeo. "I'll testify about a lot of things, including the United States and Russia."

The testimony is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Pacific time.