Clinton: Biden will reset U.S.-Russia relations after Trump 'emboldened' Putin

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday she is optimistic about the summit between President Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin, celebrating what she expects will be straightforward talks between the two leaders after what she called four "lost" years on Russia-U.S. relations.

In an interview with MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Clinton recalled her own talks with Putin from her tenure as secretary of state, describing the Russian president's tactic of "mansplaining" during negotiations and arriving late to keep his U.S. counterpart waiting.

"None of that will happen now,” Clinton said. “I think that the way that this has been stage managed — a quick handshake, no photo spray that goes on and on where people can say things, getting in and out of the room, getting down to business, no joint press conference — those are really strong diplomatic signals about what it is we expect. We expect an open, straightforward conversation and that's Joe Biden at large."

Discussing her hopes for Biden and Putin’s topics of discussion, Clinton said she would like to see a resumption of negotiations about nuclear arms that would eventually include China, as well as a discussion of cyberweapons. She said she expects Biden to welcome cooperation where it’s possible, in areas like climate change.

Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign was the target of what the U.S. intelligence community identified as an election interference campaign launched by the Russian government. Dragged down in part by controversy that emerged from hacked emails and disinformation that circulated widely on social media, Clinton was upset in the 2016 election and lost to former President Donald Trump.

As president, Trump was widely seen as exceedingly deferential to Putin on the world stage, an exception to hardline foreign policy positions he adopted more broadly, including with close U.S. allies. Trump threatened multiple times to pull the U.S. out of NATO, the trans-Atlantic treaty set up as a deterrent to Russia, and was famously unwilling to accept the conclusion of the U.S. intelligence community that the Kremlin sought in 2016 to hinder Clinton's campaign and bolster his, suggesting during a 2018 press conference that he would accept Putin's word over that of his own intelligence agencies.

Clinton, in her interview with "Morning Joe," expressed relief at having Biden at the helm and hope that Biden will approach the meeting with toughness. Among other topics, Clinton said she hopes Biden will communicate to Putin that, if he’s tempted to foster closer relations with China, "that hasn't worked out so well in the past.”

“We can't turn the clock back, but I think what president Biden understands is he wants to sit across the table, as I have done with Putin, and basically look him in the eye and say, 'OK, let's figure out where we can work together. ... Let us tell you what we are no longer going to abide, and there will be consequences. And don't test us,'" Clinton said.