Sen. Ted Cruz spoke to reporters in a Capitol Hill hallway: "I think we have had 8 years of Barack Obama showing nothing but appeasement towards Russia." NBC's Kasie Hunt replies: "President Trump is not appeasing Russia?" <Blockquote>SEN. TED CRUZ: Actually, if you look on substance, part of the irony of this media obsession with Russia is that the Obama administration began with Hillary Clinton bringing a big ret 'reset' button to Russia... so she and Obama could be 'friends' with Putin. Fast forward a few years later and you have Russia invading the Ukraine. And the Obama adminstration did nothing -- was utterly ineffective. John Kerry said he desperately wanted to provide Putin with a 'off ramp.' Putin didn't want an off ramp. And the policies of the Obama adminsitration were constant weakness and appeasement. One thing that was just announced [by the Trump administration] is the positioning of anti-ballistic missile batteries in Poland and Czech Republic. Those were scheduled to go in in 2009, ten years, ago, but in January 2009, the first month of the Obama administration, cancelled them. Why? Because they wanted to appease Putin. I am glad that President Trump is returning to a policy of standing up and defending our allies.</blockquote>