'They're not talking at all!' MAGA lawmaker grimaces at CNN host's blistering fact check

CNN's Kate Bolduan fact-checked a MAGA Republican lawmaker to his face after he praised President Donald Trump's handling of foreign affairs.

Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) appeared Friday morning on "CNN News Central" to defend the president's unsuccessful efforts to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine despite meeting with the leaders of both nations, whom he's pushed to meet bilaterally to discuss a possible land swap.

"I trust the president's judgment," Fine said. "He's close to the situation, he's in those conversations and he has those details. But what I know is he's committed to ending the bloodshed. Look, Russia's just willing to send their people in over and over and over again to get killed, because this is part of Vladimir Putin's much larger strategy to recreate the Soviet Union, and then you've got issues in Ukraine where, look, they've got financial incentives for the war to never end. So it's a very difficult situation, and that the president's trying to make the best of the fact that they're at least willing to talk, about talking is a better situation than we were in six months ago."

Bolduan immediately – and forcefully, at length – corrected the congressman's claims about the diplomatic situation.

"But they're not," she said, as Fine grimaced. "They're not talking, they're not talking at all. I mean, the key here is that and it seems that we're, I don't know if we call this the end, but we're ending where it began, which is that as many smart analysts and members of Congress have said, is that Putin only responds to strength and that strength means consequences, and Putin's not going to end the war unless he is forced to, which would be economic consequences, which would be why there are 80-plus co-sponsors, bipartisan, for the for the Blumenthal-Graham sanctions bill that's working in the Senate that President Trump has not said that he's committed or will support. Do you want him to throw his support behind that in order to bring about the talks?"

Fine listened to Bolduan's correction with a tight smile gradually fading from his face, but he resumed his defense of Trump's handling of the matter once she finished.

"He's got information that I don't have, and he's a big believer in using carrots and sticks," Fine said. "If the president says he needs that stick, then I'll be behind him 100 percent. But I think he is still hopeful, the president is a man of great optimism, and you can hear that he's hopeful that he can bring these things together, and I think he's going to try to play that optimism out. But there will come a time, I assume, when he says, I'm done being optimistic and I'm going to bring out the big stick, and when he does that, I'll be there to support him. "

Bolduan didn't sound like she's holding her breath.

"Yeah, one thing is, like, for a lot of people, that was seven deadlines ago," she said.

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