Former President Donald Trump issued a statement on Thursday in which he said that the U.S. had secured the respect of Russian President Vladimir Putin as the result of a meeting that he had with the Russian leader in 2018.

“As President, I had a great and very productive meeting in Helsinki, Finland, with President Putin of Russia. Despite the belated Fake News portrayal of the meeting, the United States won much, including the respect of President Putin and Russia. Because of the phony Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, made-up and paid for by the Democrats and Crooked Hillary Clinton, the United States was put at a disadvantage—a disadvantage that was nevertheless overcome by me,” Trump said. “As to who do I trust, they asked, Russia or our “Intelligence” from the Obama era, meaning people like Comey, McCabe, the two lovers, Brennan, Clapper, and numerous other sleezebags, or Russia, the answer, after all that has been found out and written, should be obvious. Our government has rarely had such lowlifes as these working for it. Good luck to Biden in dealing with President Putin—don’t fall asleep during the meeting, and please give him my warmest regards!”

Trump’s comments came as Biden, who is currently overseas during his first foreign trip since being inaugurated earlier this year, is slated to meet with Putin on June 16 in Geneva, Switzerland.

Calls for further investigation of the pandemic’s origins have intensified in recent days

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the left wanted to deny the theory that coronavirus was leaked from a lab in Wuhan.

Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said Sunday that accidental lab leaks “happen all the time” amid mounting concern regarding the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gottlieb expressed concern about safety protocols at research labs in the U.S. and abroad during an appearance on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” The former commissioner said a conclusive determination on where the pandemic originated was critical to prevent deadly outbreaks in the future.

“These kinds of lab leaks happen all the time, actually,” Gottlieb said. “Even here in the United States, we’ve had mishaps, and in China, the last six known outbreaks of SARS-1 have been out of labs, including the last known outbreak, which was a pretty extensive outbreak that China initially wouldn’t disclose that it came out of a lab.”

Calls for further investigation of the pandemic’s origins have intensified in recent days. Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported three researchers at China’s Wuhan Institute off Virology displayed symptoms severe enough to seek hospital treatment with symptoms consistent with COVID-19 in late 2019.

President Biden said the intelligence community has yet to determine whether the pandemic began after human contact with infected animals or because of a lab accident. Officials are expected to deliver an updated report on their conclusion within the next few months.

Biden has pledged to make any relevant findings from their investigation public.

Gottlieb called on officials to view the pandemic and lab safety as matters of national security, given the impact of COVID-19.

“It’s important to understand what the possibility is that this came out of a lab so we can focus more international attention on trying to get better inventories around these labs, what they’re doing, better security, make sure they’re properly built,” he added. “We need to also look at public health through the lens of national security. This was an asymmetric harm to the United States. COVID hurt the U.S. a lot more than it hurt many other countries.”

Former FDA commissioner says lab leaks ‘happen all the time’ amid COVID-19 origin scrutiny

Calls for further investigation of the pandemic’s origins have intensified in recent days

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the left wanted to deny the theory that coronavirus was leaked from a lab in Wuhan.

Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said Sunday that accidental lab leaks “happen all the time” amid mounting concern regarding the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gottlieb expressed concern about safety protocols at research labs in the U.S. and abroad during an appearance on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” The former commissioner said a conclusive determination on where the pandemic originated was critical to prevent deadly outbreaks in the future.

“These kinds of lab leaks happen all the time, actually,” Gottlieb said. “Even here in the United States, we’ve had mishaps, and in China, the last six known outbreaks of SARS-1 have been out of labs, including the last known outbreak, which was a pretty extensive outbreak that China initially wouldn’t disclose that it came out of a lab.”

Calls for further investigation of the pandemic’s origins have intensified in recent days. Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported three researchers at China’s Wuhan Institute off Virology displayed symptoms severe enough to seek hospital treatment with symptoms consistent with COVID-19 in late 2019.

President Biden said the intelligence community has yet to determine whether the pandemic began after human contact with infected animals or because of a lab accident. Officials are expected to deliver an updated report on their conclusion within the next few months.

Biden has pledged to make any relevant findings from their investigation public.

Gottlieb called on officials to view the pandemic and lab safety as matters of national security, given the impact of COVID-19.

“It’s important to understand what the possibility is that this came out of a lab so we can focus more international attention on trying to get better inventories around these labs, what they’re doing, better security, make sure they’re properly built,” he added. “We need to also look at public health through the lens of national security. This was an asymmetric harm to the United States. COVID hurt the U.S. a lot more than it hurt many other countries.”

–Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday described President Biden’s budget proposal as a “smorgasbord of left-wing activities” the costs of which, he warned, would be inflicted upon future generations.

“This sounds like a smorgasbord of left-wing activities that they want to underwrite with American taxpayers and, make no mistake about it, in the end middle class, hard working Americans will be taxed to pay for this,” he said on “Fox and Friends.”

The White House on Friday unveiled the whopping $6 trillion fiscal 2022 budget request, which will add to the already ballooning debt. It tallies up the administration’s eight-year, $2.3 trillion American Jobs Plan and the $1.8 trillion American Families Plan and incorporates them into Biden’s $1.5 trillion request for annual operating expenditures, which includes the Pentagon and other federal agencies.

The proposal will push debt levels held by the public to the highest levels since World War II in 2024 and would spike the deficit to $1.8 trillion in 2022 and would routinely run above $1.3 trillion over the next decade, despite nearly $3 trillion in proposed tax increases.

Pompeo pointed to inclusions such as more than $800 million to Central American countries — part of a potential $4 billion strategy to target “root causes” of the migrant surge which has led to a crisis at the southern border.

“That money going to Central America, I don’t know exactly what they’ve tagged it for but we know that the crisis at the border is not going to be solved by tossing money at the Central American countries — it simply won’t work,” he said.

It also includes $2.1 billion to combat gun violence, $110 million for “transportation equity” and $36 billion in climate investments. Pompeo said he knew would be footing the bill for the massive spending project.

“Sounds like he wants to spend my kids’, and hopefully one day I’ll have grandchildren, their money too,” he said. “This is an enormous budget that will leave an enormous burden on that next generation.”

“This is European social welfare bordering on socialism,” he added.

Fox News’ Megan Henney contributed to this report.