Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says it's "appalling" Russia's President Vladimir Putin was "messing" with the U.S. election – calling him "an eye-for-an-eye kind of guy."
In an interview that aired Sunday on CBS' "Sunday Morning," the first African American woman to take the oath as Secretary of State said there's no question Russia interfered with the elections – but doesn't offer her opinion on why.
"I'm not going to try to judge Putin's motivations," she told host Jane Pauley.
"It's kind of a mistake to try to judge his motivations.
"You can look at his actions, and his actions were appalling. Yes, the Russians were messing around with our elections. And, so, yes, it is concerning."
Rice, who studied to become a Soviet specialist, told Pauley she's "mad as I can be" at the Russians for what they did.
"But if you ask me about the psychology of it, yes, I am a Russianist," she said. "And yes, I know Vladimir Putin. And that's why I say, 'Don't give him the satisfaction of thinking that he undermined our confidence in our own elections.'
"He's an eye-for-an-eye kind of guy," she continued. "We called his elections fraudulent in 2012. And they were. And so now he's going to make ours fraudulent."
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.