Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Sunday that she’s ‘not confident’ in congressional testimony by IRS whistleblower Joseph Ziegler about Hunter Biden, calling the Republican-led hearing a ‘ridiculous clown show.’

Pelosi was asked by CNN’s ‘State of the Union’ anchor Dana Bash whether politics played a role in Wednesday’s hearing, when Ziegler came forward for the first time, joining his IRS supervisor Gary Shapley, to allege political interference in the prosecutorial decisions throughout the years-long federal probe into the president’s son.

‘Well, since you referenced the hearing, what a ridiculous clown show, again, on the part of the Republicans,’ Pelosi told Bash.

While Bash was asking about Wednesday’s hearing by the House Oversight Committee, Pelosi referenced a moment during a hearing the following day with Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., though she fumbled his name.

‘What did they do, bring in Joe Kennedy talking about censorship, that he’s being censored as he’s talking to the world in a congressional hearing and showing pictures that had nothing to do with the essence–,’ she said.

‘I think you mentioned Robert F. Kennedy,’ Bash corrected Pelosi before asking again about the whistleblower’s testimony.

‘Do you feel confident no politics played at DOJ?’ Bash asked the congresswoman.

‘The U.S. attorney was a Trump appointee. A Trump appointee,’ Pelosi responded. ‘Now, I have respect for whistleblowers, but the fact is that, from the basis of that hearing, they didn’t even have a fair shot at what they came to say in light of the clown show that was going on with pictures and Robert Kennedy and his ridiculous presentation.’

‘No, I’m not confident about what the whistleblower said,’ she said. ‘The U.S. attorney was a Trump attorney. This is their opinion. It was not the opinion of the others there.’

During Wednesday’s hearing, Ziegler told Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., that Hunter Biden, his family members and business associates received over $17 million due to business dealings in China, Ukraine and Romania.

Those deals included multimillion-dollar payments to Biden family-linked companies from 2014 to 2019, including $7.3 million from Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings.

Ziegler and Shapley both allege that officials at the Justice Department, FBI and IRS interfered in the investigation into Hunter Biden, and that decisions in the case were influenced by politics.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s office was contacted by the office of Special Counsel Jack Smith in connection to the investigation into former President Donald Trump and his allies’ efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, Fox News has confirmed.

The Washington Post was the first to confirm that Smith’s office reached out to Kemp after Trump announced on TRUTH Social that he received a letter from Smith informing him he is a target of a Jan. 6 grand jury Investigation.

Smith’s activities point to a possible overlap between his investigation and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ probes. Willis has been investigating since early 2021 whether Trump and his allies broke any state laws as they tried to overturn his narrow election loss in Georgia to now-President Biden. 

Willis opened her investigation shortly after Trump called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in January 2021 and suggested the state’s top elections official could help him ‘find’ the votes needed to overturn his election loss in the state. 

Georgia’s Supreme Court last week rejected Trump’s request to have the special grand jury report quashed, and Willis has suggested any charges would come by Sept. 1. 

The Post previously reported that Raffensperger was interviewed in Atlanta last month by investigators from Smith’s office. 

Meanwhile, Kemp, who previously supported Trump, ultimately certified Biden’s victory in the Peach State following the 2020 presidential election. 

Trump endorsed Kemp’s rival, former Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., in the 2022 primary contest, but Kemp went on to win the nomination and the general election. Kemp was also questioned last year by investigators from Willis’ office in connection to her investigation, FOX 5 Atlanta reported. 

CNN reported that Smith’s office has also contacted former Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey in connection to the DOJ’s Trump probe in recent weeks. 

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy on Sunday defended former President Donald Trump, who faces a special counsel investigation regarding the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol protests.

The biotech entrepreneur, during an appearance on ‘Fox News Sunday,’ responded to being slammed for not criticizing Trump a month before the first GOP presidential debate in Milwaukee. 

‘I’ve been consistent all along,’he said, ‘that I would have made different judgments than Donald Trump made – that is why I’m running in this race for the presidency – the same race that he’s in. Because I would have made different and, I believe, better judgments for the country.’ 

‘But a bad judgment is not the same thing as a crime,’ Ramaswamy continued. ‘And when we conflate the two, that sets a dangerous precedent for this country. I don’t want to see us become some banana republic where the party in power uses police force to arrest its political opponents.’ 

‘Now that I’m third in the national polls, self-interestedly it would be much easier for me to win this election if Trump were not the front-runner – if Trump were eliminated by the federal administrative police state. But that’s not the right thing for the country,’ he added.  

In a recent Fox News survey of Iowa Republicans, Trump received 46% support among likely Iowa GOP caucus goers, while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis received 16% and Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., received 11%.  Ramaswamy came in fourth, polling at 6%. 

In South Carolina, another recent Fox News poll found Trump leading by more than 30 points. Ramaswamy came in sixth place in that poll at just 3%. 

Ramaswamy contended that he was ‘not running against anyone,’ including rival GOP presidential candidates and Democrat President Biden, stressing that he was running for the ‘vision of what it means to be American.’

‘We don’t want a super PAC puppet,’ Ramaswamy said. ‘We want an independent voice, and a patriot who actually speaks the truth. That’s’ what I’m bringing to the race.’ 

In a past book, Ramaswamy argued that Trump wrongfully claimed he did not lose the 2020 election and raised millions of dollars off his supporters, ‘Fox News Sunday’ host Shannon Bream noted. ‘What Trump did last week was wrong. Downright abhorrent. Plain and simple,’ Ramaswamy previously tweeted on Jan. 12, 2021. ‘I’ve said it before and did so in my piece.’ 

During the appearance, Ramaswamy responded to Trump’s recent comments describing Chinese President Xi Jinping as ‘brilliant’ and ‘an iron fist.’ Ramaswamy said Xi ‘is a dictator, and China is the top threat that the United States faces,’ arguing that he stands apart from other 2024 candidates, including Trump, in campaigning for ‘economic independence’ from China. 

Ramaswamy said he also has laid out a foreign policy plan based on pulling apart the China-Russian alliance. 

‘NATO was created to deter the USSR. The USSR does not exist anymore, yet NATO has expanded more after the fall of the USSR than it ever did during the USSR’s existence. So I think we have to ask the question of, ‘What advances American interests?’’ Ramaswamy said. ‘And to me, the top American interest is pulling apart the China-Russia alliance – that ends the Ukraine war, that stops us from having to fund another hundreds of billions of dollars to protect somebody else’s border that we could be using to protect our own border. And more importantly, this is also how we deter Xi Jinping from going after Taiwan.’ 

Kevin Morris, an attorney and adviser for Hunter Biden, was spotted Thursday smoking a bong on the balcony of his Malibu, California, home while the president’s son was visiting.

Morris appeared to be puffing on the white bong in plain view of the public street outside the home. Hunter Biden was at the Malibu home at the time of the bong rip but was not present on the balcony when the photos were snapped, according to photos obtained by Fox News Digital.

It’s unclear what substance Morris appeared to be smoking, but recreational marijuana is legal in California.

Hunter’s visit to Morris’ house, which was first reported by the Daily Mail, comes as the House Oversight Committee’s investigation into the Biden family finances took a sharp turn this past week with the Thursday release of an FBI document that detailed how he, along with his father, President Biden, allegedly ‘coerced’ Burisma CEO Mykola Zlochevsky to pay them millions of dollars in exchange for their help in getting the Ukrainian prosecutor who was investigating the company fired.

Morris, a prominent Hollywood attorney, has assumed an increasingly big role in Biden’s life, to the point that the wealthy lawyer has been dubbed Hunter’s ‘sugar brother.’ That role has involved a wide range of areas – from financial support, to helping write a book, to lending a private jet.

Indeed, Biden, 53, flew to and from the Arkansas courthouse for his May child-support hearing aboard a luxury private jet owned by Morris, according to the New York Post, which cited flight and business records.

The jet took off from Los Angeles on April 30 just after 7 a.m., flew cross-country to Washington, D.C., where it landed, and then went to Arkansas for the hearing the next morning. Afterward, the jet left around 11:30 a.m. to return to D.C. The 7,326-mile round trip likely cost between $55,000 to $117,000, the Post reported, noting the total was the equivalent value of up to six months of Biden’s child-support payments.

Beyond the child-support hearing, the Post cited flight records that showed Morris’ plane landing in or taking off from Fayetteville, Arkansas, at least nine times between February 2022 and April 2023. Fayetteville is the home of Biden’s financial adviser, Edward Prewitt.

Morris has helped Biden maintain his allegedly lavish lifestyle, according to several reports, covering at least some of the first son’s rent and living expenses.

Perhaps most famously, Morris loaned more than $2 million to Biden to help pay off the first son’s overdue taxes, which are in part the subject of a years-long Justice Department investigation into possible tax evasion and other potential crimes.

Morris has additionally advised Biden on a host of legal, personal and financial matters, ranging from his child-support lawsuit to how to respond to ongoing federal probes in his taxes and business affairs. Biden lawyer Chris Clark told CBS News last year that Morris is serving as an ‘attorney and trusted adviser’ to the first son.

Emails and business records indicate Morris also controls Biden’s valuable assets. Indeed, Biden’s stake in a Chinese private equity firm called BHR Partners is now controlled by Morris, the Washington Free Beacon recently reported. Specifically, Morris controls Skaneateles LLC, which holds Biden’s 10% stake in BHR.

An amended joint venture contract for BHR, which was first obtained by the nonprofit investigative group Marco Polo, identifies Morris as the managing member of Biden’s LLC. BHR Partners is co-owned by the Beijing-controlled Bank of China and manages $2.1 billion in assets.

Biden initially invested $420,000 in BHR Partners in October 2017 through his personal company, Skaneateles LLC. His interest in the company spiked to an estimated $894,000, according to a March 2019 email from his former business partner, Eric Schwerin.

Additionally, amid the ongoing investigations into Hunter Biden’s business dealings, Morris assisted him in finishing his 2021 memoir, ‘Beautiful Things,’ which chronicled his drug and alcohol addictions. Biden included Morris – who reportedly found a high-powered literary agent for the first son – as part of ‘the outstanding team behind this book’ on the acknowledgments page of his memoir.

Morris has also worked on a documentary project that’s expected to build on the memoir’s story of redemption while portraying Biden as the victim of attacks from conservatives and Republicans in recent years.

Morris allegedly lied to get on to the film set of ‘My Son Hunter,’ an independent movie that presents a fictionalized and unflattering account of Biden’s drug use and foreign business dealings. According to several reports, Morris flew to Serbia with two colleagues, identified himself by name to the film crew, and said he was making a documentary about Biden’s alleged ‘corruption’ without revealing their relationship. Morris and his two colleagues were given full access to the set for several days, taping hours of footage for the supposed documentary.

However, when revelations about Morris’ connection to Biden first came to light last year, Phelim McAleer, a producer of the film, called the lawyer’s behavior ‘unethical,’ adding that ‘if I had known that he was providing legal and media consult to Hunter Biden, I would have treated him rather differently.’

Morris didn’t immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Fox News’ Brooke Singman and Matteo Cina contributed to this report.

Former President Donald Trump said in a new interview clip aired Sunday that President Biden is not up to the task during a precarious time for the U.S. amid growing tensions around the globe.

‘Look, this is the most dangerous time in the history of our country because of weaponry. The nuclear power is so enormous. This isn’t two Army tanks going and shooting each other in World War I, World War II, soldiers standing behind a bunker and shooting people,’ Trump said during a sit-down interview with Fox News host Maria Bartiromo.

‘This is obliteration,’ Trump added in the interview, the second half of which aired Sunday on Fox News’ ‘Sunday Morning Futures.’

‘And we have a man that doesn’t understand what he’s doing. We have a man that … stood up and told the whole world that we have no ammunition,’ Trump said of Biden. ‘Do you know I had every ammunition building full to the brim three years ago. We’ve given it all away. But if you gave it all away – terrible. The only thing worse than that is to tell the world. … He has told China and these other places that are hostile that we have no ammunition.’

‘You talk about classified documents. That’s worse than any document that you could give,’ Trump continued, apparently in reference to the federal indictment against him with regard to classified documents found during an FBI search of his Mar-a-Lago estate last year. ‘So, now these people are sitting back in China and other places that hate us, including North Korea, where I had a very good relationship with Kim Jong Un and kept our country safe. They’re talking about the United States of America has no ammunition. Think of it. How stupid can somebody be to say that?’ 

During an interview on CNN this month, Biden let slip while explaining the controversial decision to send cluster bombs to Ukraine that the United States is low on 155 mm artillery ammunition rounds, sparking outrage on social media as critics called the commander in chief’s competency into question.

‘It was a very difficult decision on my part. And by the way, I discussed this with our allies, discussed this with our friends up on the Hill,’ Biden told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria on July 9, ahead of the president’s travel to Europe to attend the NATO conference in Lithuania. ‘And we’re in a situation where Ukraine continues to be brutally attacked across the board by munitions, by these cluster munitions that are – have DOD rates that are very, very low, very high, that are dangerous to civilians, No. 1.’

‘No. 2, the Ukrainians are running out of ammunition. The ammunition that they to call them, 155 millimeter weapons,’ Biden said. ‘This is a war relating to munitions and the running out of those that ammunition. And we’re low on. And so what I finally did and took the recommendation of the Defense Department to not permanently but to allow for in this transition period where we have more 155 weapons, these shells, for the Ukrainians.’

A White House official walked back Biden’s comment that the United States is running out of ammunition when asked to comment on criticism in response to Biden’s live CNN interview.

‘The military has specific requirements for the numbers of weapons systems and ammunition we maintain in our reserves in case of contingencies or military conflict,’ a White House official previously said in an email to Fox News Digital. ‘Everything we send to Ukraine is in excess of that. So, the U.S. is not running out of ammunition ourselves.’

Fox News’ Matteo Cina contributed to this report.

Former Vice President Mike Pence called former President Donald Trump’s actions during the Jan. 6 protest at the U.S. Capitol ‘reckless,’ but said he isn’t ‘confident’ his former boss committed any crimes. 

‘I have said many times that the president’s words were reckless that day. I had no right to overturn the election. But while his words were reckless, I, based on what I know, I’m not yet convinced that they were criminal. I obviously wasn’t there for every meeting,’ Pence said on CNN’s ‘State of the Union.’

Last week, Trump announced he received a letter from Special Counsel Jack Smith stating that he is the target of a Jan. 6 grand jury investigation. The former president said he anticipates both an arrest and indictment.

Pence, who is running for president in the 2024 election, said he hopes ‘it does not come to’ an indictment against Trump regarding the 2020 election and Jan. 6, while noting that he believes he personally handled the day well. 

‘I know I did my duty that day,’ Pence told CNN’s Dana Bash. 

‘In one town hall after another, across New Hampshire, I heard a deep concern… about the unequal treatment of the law, and I think one more indictment against the former president will only contribute to that sense among the American people,’ Pence said. ‘I would rather that these issues and the judgment about his conduct on Jan. 6 be left to the American people in the upcoming primaries, and I’ll leave it at that.’

Pence added that he didn’t ‘know what [Trump’s] intention was’ on Jan. 6, 2021, and summed up what he witnessed from the former president as ‘reckless.’

‘I believe that history will hold him accountable. I believe that Republican primary voters know that we need new leadership in this party. I know that some of the pundits and the pollsters think it’s different out there,’ Pence continued. 

If indicted over Jan. 6, this would be the third indictment Trump has faced this year. 

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office charged Trump in March in regard to payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election. Trump pleaded not guilty in that case and has denied sleeping with Daniels or falsifying business records to keep the payment concealed. 

Trump was indicted again in June related to alleged willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and false statements. Trump pleaded not guilty and dismissed the charges as a ‘witch hunt.’

Trump slammed the Department of Justice after receiving a letter showing he is the target of a grand jury investigation into his actions on Jan. 6, calling the matter another ‘witch hunt.’ 

‘Joe Biden’s Attorney General, Merrick Garland, who I turned down for the United States Supreme Court (in retrospect, based on his corrupt and unethical actions, a very wise decision!), together with Joe Biden’s Department of Injustice, have effectively issued a third indictment and arrest of Joe Biden’s NUMBER ONE POLITICAL OPPONENT, who is largely dominating him in the race for the Presidency,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social last week. 

–>

House Republicans on the House Oversight and Homeland Security Committees are investigating whistleblower claims that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) may have retaliated against a top Border Patrol official after testifying to the two committees — a claim that the agency called ‘categorically false.’

‘We write with deep concern that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials may have retaliated against a witness in a Congressional investigation,’ Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., and Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green, R-Tenn., said in a letter to acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller.

The lawmakers say they have received an allegation regarding El Centro Border Patrol Sector Chief Gregory Bovino. The whistleblower claims that after Bovino concluded a transcribed interview with the committees July 12, he was ‘relieved of his command over the El Centro Sector and reassigned to a vague, indefinite, and temporary headquarters assignment.’

‘The whistleblower indicates that this pattern is consistent with a common CBP practice to get rid of employees perceived as problematic by high-level officials by forcing those employees, out of frustration, to relocate, retire, or resign,’ Comer and Green said in the letter. ‘Given the suspicious timing of the reassignment coinciding with Chief Bovino’s cooperation with a Congressional inquiry, we demand CBP account for the current status of Chief Bovino’s employment and assignment within the U.S. Border Patrol, provide documents and communications relevant to any reassignment and the reasons for any related employment action, and brief the Committee on this matter.’ 

According to the whistleblower, it was not the first time Bovino upset officials. In January, Comer invited Bovino to testify, but he was not permitted. The letter says that the whistleblower claims he produced testimony that was ‘dissatisfactory’ to CBP officials, and for which he was verbally reprimanded by leadership.

After the July 12 interview, lawmakers said Bovino was immediately informed by a senior Border Patrol official ‘that he was relieved of command of the El Centro Sector effective immediately and would thereafter report to CBP headquarters in Washington, D.C. for a temporary duty assignment of indefinite nature and time.’

‘The whistleblower describes that temporary assignment as one of no certain mission, no articulable purpose, and without any timeline of completion,’ Comer and Green wrote.

In their letter to Miller, Comer and Green warned that they would not tolerate any retaliation against congressional witnesses.

‘Any retaliation against witnesses who cooperate with Congressional inquiries will not be tolerated, especially when that retaliation may have been committed by government officials. Additionally, obstruction of Congressional investigations is a crime and will not be tolerated,’ Comer and Green warned.

However, CBP denied the claims of retaliation being made by the whistleblower.

‘This accusation is categorically false,’ a CBP spokesperson told Fox News Digital in a statement. ‘This temporary personnel assignment is entirely unrelated to any Congressional testimony or appearance, and was in process prior to the Chief’s transcribed interview.’

CBP says it is constantly evaluating requirements and resources, including personnel, to position the agency to conduct its mission. Additionally, other sector chiefs have also been temporarily assigned to headquarters in Washington, and that is a reflection of ongoing operational needs. 

Bovino’s reassignment also came amid a major change in leadership across the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) as the agencies have been tackling an ongoing crisis at the southern border — and have implemented sweeping changes to coincide with the end of the Title 42 public health order on May 11.

Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz retired at the end of June and was replaced by Del Rio Sector Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens. The agency also announced that acting Deputy Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Benjamine ‘Carry’ Huffman would retire and be replaced by Executive Assistant Commissioner for the Office of Field Operations Pete Flores. Meanwhile, Yuma and San Diego Sectors have also seen new chief patrol agents. The agency has also highlighted that Bovino was previously detailed to CBP headquarters in 2021.

Beyond CBP, Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Tae Johnson retired and was replaced by Patrick Lechleitner. At DHS itself, Deputy Secretary John Tien was replaced by acting Deputy Secretary Kristie Canegallo.

Comer and Green, in their letter to Miller, are requesting all documents and communications related to Bovino’s employment and those related to his appearance as a witness. They also want a briefing before July 28.

The Biden administration unveiled a regulatory proposal late Friday targeting water heaters, the latest in a string of energy efficiency actions cracking down on home appliances.

The Department of Energy (DOE) said its proposal would ultimately ‘accelerate deployment’ of electric heat pump water heaters, save Americans billions of dollars and vastly reduce carbon emissions. If finalized, the proposed standards would force less energy efficient, but cheaper, water heaters off the market.

‘Today’s actions — together with our industry partners and stakeholders — improve outdated efficiency standards for common household appliances, which is essential to slashing utility bills for American families and cutting harmful carbon emissions,’ Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a statement.

‘This proposal reinforces the trajectory of consumer savings that forms the key pillar of Bidenomics and builds on the unprecedented actions already taken by this Administration to lower energy costs for working families across the nation,’ she continued.

Overall, the DOE projected the regulations, which are slated to go into effect in 2029, would save Americans about $198 billion while curbing emissions by 501 million metric tons over the next three decades. That’s roughly the same carbon footprint as 63 million homes or half of all homes nationwide.

Under the rule, the federal government would require higher efficiency for heaters using heat pump technology or, in the case of gas-fired water heaters, to achieve efficiency gains through condensing technology. Non-condensing gas-fired water heaters, though, are far cheaper and smaller, meaning they come with lower installation costs.

According to the DOE, water heating accounts for 13% of annual residential energy use and consumer utility costs. 

In addition to water heaters, over the last several months, the DOE has unveiled new standards for a wide variety of other appliances including gas stoves, clothes washers, refrigerators and air conditioners. The agency’s comment period on a separate dishwasher regulatory proposal concluded Tuesday.

According to the current federal Unified Agenda, a government-wide, semiannual list that highlights regulations agencies plan to propose or finalize within the next 12 months, the Biden administration is additionally moving forward with rules impacting dozens more appliances, including consumer furnaces, pool pumps, battery chargers, ceiling fans and dehumidifiers.

The Biden administration boasted in December that it had taken 110 actions on energy efficiency rules in 2022 alone as part of its climate agenda.

The DOE said Friday that, altogether, its appliance regulations will save Americans $570 billion and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 2.4 billion metric tons over the next 30 years.

However, consumer groups and experts have criticized the administration over its aggressive energy efficiency campaign. They have argued the new regulations will reduce consumer choice and increase costs for Americans.

‘It’s just spreading to more and more appliances. It seems that almost everything that plugs in or fires up around the house is either subject to a pending regulation or soon will be,’ Ben Lieberman, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, previously told Fox News Digital.

‘Consumers aren’t going to like any of it,’ he added. ‘These rules are almost always bad for consumers for the simple reason that they restrict consumer choice.’ 

A month before he died in April 1994, former President Richard Nixon wrote a letter to then-President Bill Clinton offering what Clinton later called ‘wise counsel, especially with regard to Russia.’ The contents of that letter have now been declassified by the Clinton presidential library and appear prophetic.

In the seven-page letter, dated March 21, 1994, and discussed by history professor Luke Nichter in the Wall Street Journal, Nixon gave a blunt assessment of the political situation in Russia, predicting accurately that relations between Moscow and Kyiv would deteriorate and that someone like Putin could come to power. Nixon, 81 at the time, wrote the letter after he returned from a two-week trip to Russia and Ukraine. 

While the former president is infamous for departing the White House amid scandal in 1974, his legacy includes being the architect of détente with the Soviet Union during the Cold War. In 1972, Nixon became the first U.S. president to visit Moscow, where he signed the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty with Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev. Nixon spent the years following his presidency taking foreign trips on behalf of the United States and offering counsel based on decades of experience to guide U.S. policy in the post-Cold War era. 

Nixon considered the survival of political and economic freedom in Russia ‘the most important foreign policy issue the nation will face for the balance of this century.’ With that understanding, he told Clinton that based on what he saw in Russia, a fledgling democracy under former Russian President Boris Yeltsin was in danger. 

‘As one of Yeltsin’s first supporters in this country and as one who continues to admire him for his leadership in the past, I have reluctantly concluded that his situation has rapidly deteriorated since the elections in December, and that the days of his unquestioned leadership of Russia are numbered,’ Nixon wrote. ‘His drinking bouts are longer and his periods of depression are more frequent. Most troublesome, he can no longer deliver on his commitments to you and other Western leaders in an increasingly anti-American environment in the Duma and in the country.’

Nixon foresaw that relations between Russia and Ukraine would dissolve. He called the situation in Ukraine ‘highly explosive.’ 

‘If it is allowed to get out of control,’ Nixon told Clinton, ‘it will make Bosnia look like a PTA garden party.’ 

The former president advised Clinton to strengthen American diplomatic representation in Kyiv, recounting conversations with American businessmen who complained that the embassy was ‘understaffed and inadequately led.’ 

Nixon also urged Clinton to develop relationships with Yeltsin’s potential successors. ‘Bush made a mistake in sticking too long to Gorbachev because of his close personal relationship. You must avoid making that same mistake in your very good personal relationship with Yeltsin,’ he wrote. 

He was unsure who would rise to power next. ‘There is still no one who is in Yeltsin’s class as a potential leader in Russia,’ Nixon wrote. He informed Clinton that a nationalist and populist tide in Russia could produce a ‘credible candidate for president’ — a mere five years before Putin’s Russian nationalist regime took hold. 

‘The Russians are serious people. One of the reasons Khrushchev was put on the shelf back in 1964 is that the proud Russians became ashamed of his crude antics at the U.N. and in other international forums,’ Nixon wrote.

The letter also reveals some of Nixon’s dislike for career diplomats. ‘I learned during my years in the White House that the best decisions I made, such as the one to go to China in 1972, were made over the objections of or without the approval of most foreign service officers,’ he wrote. Nixon advised Clinton to chart his own course and not to be held back by his staff. ‘Remember that foreign service officers get to the top by not getting into trouble. They are therefore more interested in covering their asses than in protecting yours.’

Clinton in later years would remember Nixon’s advice fondly. ‘After he died, I found myself wishing I could pick up the phone and ask President Nixon what he thought about this issue or that problem, particularly if it involved Russia,’ he said in 2013.