Today in US Politics
That’s it from me today. Here’s how the day unfolded in Washington, as the world awaits Russia’s next move in Ukraine:
- Joe Biden announced he will allow sanctions on the company overseeing construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to move forward. The news comes nearly a year after Biden used a national security waiver to block the congressionally-approved sanctions on the Russia-to-Germany pipeline. The White House had previously been hesitant to sanction Nord Stream 2 AG out of concern for its relationship with Berlin, but German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s decision to halt the project’s certification has now cleared the way for the sanctions.
- The Kremlin said it received an official request for military aid from the leaders of the two self-proclaimed in east Ukraine. The request could allow Vladimir Putin to send a larger military force into the region, potentially setting the stage for a fuller-scaler invasion.
- Republicans have offered a scattered response to the first tranche of Biden’s sanctions on Russia. Some Republican hawks in Congress, including Senator Lindsey Graham, have attacked the sanctions as an inadequate response to Putin’s aggression in Ukraine. But the leader of the Republican party, former President Donald Trump, has praised Putin as a “genius” for recognizing the two self-proclaimed republics in east Ukraine.
- House speaker Nancy Pelosi attacked Putin as a “tyrant” for ordering troops into east Ukraine. “It’s stunning to see, in this day and age, a tyrant roll into a country,” Pelosi said on Capitol Hill today, after returning from the Munich Security Conference. “This is the same tyrant who attacked our democracy in 2016.”
For more updates on Ukraine and Russia, be sure to follow the Guardian’s separate live blog:
Kremlin receives official request to send troops into east Ukraine
The Kremlin says that it has received an official request for military aid from the leaders of the two Russian-controlled territories in east Ukraine.
The request gives Russia a pretext to send a large military force into Donbas as early as this evening.
The Kremlin has received an official request to send its forces into east Ukraine. This could mark the beginning of Russia's operation in Ukraine. https://t.co/nUI5tYF9jX
— Andrew Roth (@Andrew__Roth) February 23, 2022
The separatist leaders asked Russia to “help repel the aggression of the Ukrainian armed forces in order to avoid civilian casualties and a humanitarian catastrophe in the Donbas,” according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov.
Russian news agencies have posted copies of the letters from the Donetsk and Luhansk Peoples’ Republics.
Vladimir Putin received authorisation from lawmakers to use his military abroad on Tuesday. He has amassed more than 60% of his land forces on the border with Ukraine.
Despite the intensifying concerns over Russia launching a fuller-scale invasion of Ukraine in the coming days, Joe Biden still has no plans whatsoever to send US troops to Ukraine, Jen Psaki said.
“The president has been crystal clear and consistent: he is not sending US troops to fight in Ukraine. That has not changed,” the White House press secretary said.
Psaki noted the US has taken a range of steps to provide humanitarian and security assistance to Ukraine, while also helping to bolster the defenses of its partners in eastern Europe, in response to Russian aggression.
“We will continue to plus this all up, but the president is not sending US troops to fight in Ukraine,” Psaki said. “That hasn’t changed.”
Updated
A reporter asked Jen Psaki why the Biden administration’s first tranche of sanctions against Russia does not include direct sanctions on Vladimir Putin.
“It remains an option on the table,” Psaki said, noting that US sanctions are meant to be “escalatory” if Putin pursues a fuller-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The White House press secretary noted that subsequent rounds of sanctions may also target Russia’s largest banks and other components of the country’s economy if Putin moves forward.
Jen Psaki said that the US believes Vladimir Putin has been caught off-guard by the west’s response to Russia’s military actions in Ukraine.
“What our assessment is is that President Putin did not expect the United States to have the level of information that we have, did not expect us to put out this amount of information that we have put out, did not expect the global community to be as unified,” the White House press secretary said.
“And what we’re seeing now, our assessment is that he is improvising, adapting, and we’re having to respond.”
Psaki noted that Joe Biden is continuing to meet with his national security team as the US monitors Russia’s maneuvers in Ukraine, amid fears of a fuller-scale invasion.
Biden is “continuing to work with partners and allies to ensure we remain united, to leave the door open to diplomacy but to make very clear to President Putin and to our partners around the world that there will be significant consequences beyond what we have done already should he invade further,” Psaki said.
Updated
The White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, is now holding her daily briefing, and she kicked off her prepared remarks by offering more details on the Biden administration’s new sanctions against Russia.
Psaki noted the Russian economy has already suffered setbacks in recent months, with the ruble trading at its lowest level since March 2020 and the country’s wealthiest families losing $32bn this year.
“Obviously, the bite of these sanctions has not taken place yet,” Psaki said. “This is a vicious feedback loop that will get more severe.”
The state department spokesperson, Ned Price, was also asked about Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s decision to cancel a meeting with his Russian counterpart yesterday.
Price emphasized that the US was no longer willing to engage in “the pretense of diplomacy” as Vladimir Putin orders Russian troops into east Ukraine and recognizes two self-proclaimed republics in the region.
.@StateDeptSpox Ned Price: "This is and has been, in some ways, diplomatic Kabuki theater on the part of the Russians." pic.twitter.com/L0l2rLic9M
— CSPAN (@cspan) February 23, 2022
“This is and has been, in some ways, diplomatic Kabuki theater on the part of the Russians – making statements that they are committed to a diplomatic path while their actions suggest exactly the opposite,” Price said.
“That is not an environment in which diplomacy can achieve the results that it needs to achieve.”
Price said the US and its allies still hoped to “avert the worst-case scenario” in Ukraine, which may include a fuller-scale Russian invasion, attacks on major cities and human rights atrocities.
“We absolutely remain open to diplomacy but only if Moscow is serious,” Price said. “We are not going to engage in this pretense with them.”
Updated
A reporter asked Ned Price, the spokesperson for the US state department, about Donald Trump and former secretary of state Mike Pompeo praising Vladimir Putin’s military maneuvers in Ukraine.
“I have no response. In fact, I have no words,” Price said.
.@mitchellreports: "Your reaction to former Secretary of State Pompeo and former President Trump praising Putin's cleverness, strength and smartness?"
— CSPAN (@cspan) February 23, 2022
.@StateDeptSpox Ned Price: "I have no response. In fact, I have no words." pic.twitter.com/PM5BvvAno8
Trump said in an interview yesterday that he considered Putin’s recognition of two self-proclaimed republics in east Ukraine to be “genius” and “very savvy”.
Pompeo has also repeatedly praised Putin in recent weeks, as more Russian troops appeared along Ukraine’s borders in the run-up to the invasion.
“Very shrewd, very capable. I have enormous respect for him,” Pompeo said last month. “I’ve been criticized for saying that. No, I have enormous respect for him.”
In response to Joe Biden’s new sanctions on Nord Stream 2 AG, Republican Senator Ted Cruz is lifting some holds he had placed on state department nominees to protest the president’s previous opposition to the congressionally-approved sanctions.
“President Biden made the right decision today,” Cruz said in a statement. “Allowing Putin’s Nord Stream 2 to come online would have created multiple, cascading, and acute security crises for the United States and our European allies for generations to come. Today’s announcement is critical to preventing such scenarios.”
RELEASE: Sen. Cruz Issues Statement Following Biden Admin Announcement Rescinding Sanctions Waivers on Nord Stream 2
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) February 23, 2022
https://t.co/VB0FWI5eVK
But Cruz also warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin considers Nord Stream 2 to be a “fait accompli now that it has been physically completed,” and he emphasized the importance of ensuring the pipeline does not become operational.
“Meanwhile, our Ukrainian allies are on the front lines this very moment bravely facing down Russian forces,” Cruz said.
“For months they have been pleading with us to help them by, first, locking in exactly these sanctions on Nord Stream 2 and, second, providing them with the lethal aid they need to defend themselves. President Biden has now taken positive steps in both areas, but much more still needs to be done to deter and counter the threat that Putin poses to our allies in Ukraine and across Europe.”
Daleep Singh, the deputy national security advisor for international economics and the deputy National Economic Council director, said that the termination of Nord Stream 2 would deprive Russia of a vital economic resource.
“That’s an $11bn investment in a prized gas pipeline controlled by Russia that will now go to waste, and it sacrifices what would have been a cash cow for Russia’s coffers,” Singh said at yesterday’s White House briefing.
“But it’s not just about the money. This decision will relieve Russia’s geostrategic chokehold over Europe through its supply of gas, and it’s a major turning point in the world’s energy independence from Russia.”
A reporter later pressed Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, on why Joe Biden blocked sanctions on Nord Stream 2 AG last year if he considered the project to be such a threat to international security.
“The president has never been a supporter of Nord Stream 2. We’ve always criticized it as a project that we didn’t support,” Psaki said.
“The announcement made by the German chancellor today was not by accident; it was at the conclusion of a range of diplomatic engagements and efforts by the president and members of our national security team, in unity from the Europeans, about the fact that this could not move forward. ... The president didn’t feel that issuing pre-emptive sanctions on that was the right step to take.”
Joe Biden’s newly announced sanctions specifically target the Swiss firm Nord Stream 2 AG, which is overseeing construction of the oil pipeline, and its corporate officers.
It’s worth noting that the parent company of Nord Stream 2 AG is the Russian gas giant Gazprom, according to CNN.
One senior administration official told CNN that the sanctions would effectively be a death knell for Nord Stream 2, which was already facing a bleak future after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced he would halt certification of the project.
The planned Russia-to-Germany pipeline had attracted widespread scrutiny from Vladimir Putin’s critics, who warned that he would use the oil source to exert influence over Germany and its allies.
Biden announces sanctions on Nord Stream 2 company
Joe Biden has now confirmed that his administration will impose sanctions on the company overseeing construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
“Yesterday, after further close consultations between our two governments, Germany announced that it would halt certification of the pipeline. Today, I have directed my administration to impose sanctions on Nord Stream 2 AG and its corporate officers,” Biden said in a new statement.
“These steps are another piece of our initial tranche of sanctions in response to Russia’s actions in Ukraine. As I have made clear, we will not hesitate to take further steps if Russia continues to escalate.”
The announcement comes nearly a year after Biden used a national security waiver to block the congressionally-approved sanctions on the company overseeing Nord Stream 2.
The White House had previously been hesitant to sanction Nord Stream 2 AG out of concern for its relationship with Germany, but Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s decision to halt the project’s certification has now cleared the way for the sanctions.
“Through his actions, President Putin has provided the world with an overwhelming incentive to move away from Russian gas and to other forms of energy,” Biden said.
“I want to thank Chancellor Scholz for his close partnership and continued dedication to holding Russia accountable for its actions.”
US warns Ukraine that full scale invasion ‘highly likely’ within next 48 hours - report
Citing US intelligence officials, Newsweek is reporting that President Biden’s administration has warned Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Russia is preparing a full scale invasion within the next 48 hours:
“The President of Ukraine has been warned Russia will highly likely begin an invasion within 48 hours based on US intelligence,” a US official told Newsweek.
“Additionally,” the US official added, “reporting from aircraft observers indicates Russia violated Ukrainian airspace earlier today, flying possible reconnaissance aircraft for a short period over Ukraine.”
Cyber attacks are ‘negatively impacting Ukranians’
The websites of Ukraine’s government, foreign ministry and state security service were down on Wednesday in what the government said was the start of another massive denial of service (DDoS) attack, Reuters is reporting.
Melissa Griffith, a Senior Program Associate at The Wilson Center in Washington DC has this analysis on the growing threat of cyber warfare.
Cyber operations, like those we are currently witnessing in Ukraine, are here to stay... States in general and Russia, in particular, can and have leveraged them to shape the environment (or circumstances) in their favor through intelligence collection and sabotage as well as spreading fear, uncertainty, and distrust. These operations directly, and negatively, impact Ukrainians’ lives.
However, neither the United States nor Ukraine can afford to miss the forest through the trees. Cyber operations - including the recent wave of DDoS attacks - are just one element of a much larger and pressing set of national security concerns. The consequences from a land war are far graver than any cyber operation Russia has carried out or may carry out in the future.
Updated
Ukraine urges its citizens to leave Russia immediately
The latest from Andrew Roth in Moscow and Emma Graham-Harrison in Kyiv:
Ukraine has advised its estimated 3 million citizens living in Russia to leave the country, in the latest signal that Kyiv believes Moscow may be planning an invasion.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Ukrainian foreign ministry urged its citizens to refrain from travel to Russia and for those already in the country to leave as soon as possible.
“Due to the increased Russian aggression against Ukraine, which, among other things, may lead to a significant restriction of the ability to provide consular assistance on the territory of the Russian Federation, the ministry of foreign affairs recommends that Ukrainian citizens refrain from any travel to the Russian Federation, and those who are in this country immediately leave its territory,” the ministry statement said.
It also warned that it would have limited resources to help those Ukrainians who remained in Russia in case of a major diplomatic rupture.
Ukrainians make up the largest diaspora community in Russia, where many have family members and travel to work. An estimated 3 million Ukrainian citizens live in Russia, according to a speech Vladimir Putin made in 2019.
Today so far
Here’s where the day stands so far:
- Republicans have offered a scattered response to Joe Biden’s sanctions on Russia in response to Vladimir Putin’s military actions in Ukraine. Some Republican hawks in Congress, including Senator Lindsey Graham, have attacked the sanctions as an inadequate response to Putin’s aggression. But the leader of the Republican party, former President Donald Trump, has praised Putin as a “genius” for recognizing the two self-proclaimed republics in east Ukraine.
- Biden is expected to allow sanctions on the Russian company overseeing construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to move forward, according to multiple reports. The news comes nearly a year after Biden used a national security waiver to block the sanctions, which have been championed by Republicans in Congress.
- House speaker Nancy Pelosi attacked Putin as a “tyrant” for ordering troops into east Ukraine. “It’s stunning to see, in this day and age, a tyrant roll into a country,” Pelosi said on Capitol Hill today, after returning from the Munich Security Conference. “This is the same tyrant who attacked our democracy in 2016.”
The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
House speaker Nancy Pelosi said that the US sanctions on Russia were necessary to show the Russian people how Vladimir Putin and his elite allies have used their authority to build personal fortunes.
“Putin is probably the richest man in the world,” Pelosi said. “The Russian people have to see how they had been exploited by their own government.”
Emphasizing the urgency of the situation in Ukraine, Pelosi said it was imperative that the US and Nato deliver a robust response to Putin’s aggression in defense of democracies around the world.
“We cannot ignore what Putin is doing,” Pelosi said. “You cannot take it any lighter than what it is: a total assault on democracy.”
Adam Schiff predicted that the Biden administration’s sanctions on Russia, which some Republicans have attacked as too lenient, will escalate as Vladimir Putin pursues further military action in Ukraine.
“The sanctions are going to just continue to increase and will have an ultimately crippling impact on many sectors of the Russian economy,” said Schiff, the chairman of the House intelligence committee.
Schiff added that the sanctions would also have an impact on public opinion of Putin, saying, “We have to make sure that those costs continue and that the Russian people see the costs of their dictator’s aggression.”
Adam Schiff, the Democratic chair of the House intelligence committee, applauded Joe Biden for authorizing a “very shrewd declassification of intelligence” on Russia’s planned invasion of Ukraine.
“It stripped away any Russian pretext and laid bare for the world to say that this Russian invasion of Ukraine is nothing more than naked aggression by Vladimir Putin,” Schiff said.
The California congressman also emphasized the importance of the US and its allies remaining unified in the face of Russia’s escalating aggression against Ukraine.
“Putin will look to exploit any fissure, any crack within Nato in our coalition,” Schiff said.
Pelosi attacks Putin as a 'tyrant' after ordering troops into east Ukraine
House speaker Nancy Pelosi is now holding a press conference on Capitol Hill, after attending the Munich Security Conference last week.
Pelosi attacked Russian President Vladimir Putin for recognizing the two self-proclaimed republics in east Ukraine and ordering troops into the region, repeatedly describing him as a “tyrant”.
.@SpeakerPelosi: "It's stunning to see in this day and age a tyrant roll into a country. This is the same tyrant who attacked our democracy in 2016." pic.twitter.com/94o9jBjPa0
— CSPAN (@cspan) February 23, 2022
“It’s stunning to see, in this day and age, a tyrant roll into a country,” Pelosi said. “This is the same tyrant who attacked our democracy in 2016.”
That is, of course, a reference to Russian meddling in America’s 2016 elections to boost Donald Trump’s chances of victory in the presidential race.
“This is the same tyrant who is opposed to democracy and wants to minimize, trivialize it, to downgrade it in the eyes of the Russian people,” Pelosi added.
Updated
Russian forces massing near Ukraine’s borders can only remain in position for a few days before they have to be sent back to nearby bases or risk their capability being significantly degraded, western officials and experts believe.
That means that President Vladimir Putin will come under increasing pressure to use them in a full invasion of Ukraine – or send them back to staging areas, still in Russia’s south or west, but tens or even hundreds of kilometres back.
Such advance positions, often with poor protection from the cold, can be held only for a short period – and there is some evidence on social media of the poor conditions endured by soldiers near the border.
The US stock market is taking a tumble this morning, in response to Vladimir Putin’s military actions in east Ukraine and reports of cyberattacks impacting Ukrainian government sites.
Reuters reports:
After opening higher, eight of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors fell, while a 2.3% drop in Tesla (TSLA.O) dragged the Nasdaq lower. Twenty of the 30 Dow components were trading in the red. ...
At 10:29 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) was down 86.00 points, or 0.26%, at 33,510.61, the S&P 500 (.SPX) was down 10.83 points, or 0.25%, at 4,293.93, and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) was down 50 points, or 0.37%, at 13,331.52.
U.S. stocks have had a turbulent start to 2022 as worsening geopolitical tensions hurt investor sentiment already dented by worries about aggressive policy tightening by the Federal Reserve to combat inflation.
Donald Trump has said that Vladimir Putin is “very savvy” and made a “genius” move by declaring two regions of eastern Ukraine as independent states and moving Russian armed forces to them.
Trump said he saw the escalation of the Ukrainian crisis on TV “and I said: ‘This is genius.’ Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine … Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that’s wonderful.”
The former US president said that the Russian president had made a “smart move” by sending “the strongest peace force I’ve ever seen” to the area.
Former President Trump’s adulation of Putin today - including calling him a “genius” - aids our enemies.
— Rep. Liz Cheney (@RepLizCheney) February 22, 2022
Trump’s interests don’t seem to align with the interests of the United States of America. https://t.co/snclqW8yCL
Trump’s intervention was criticized by the two Republicans serving on the House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot, who are among the few Republicans who have been critical of the former president. Liz Cheney tweeted that Trump’s statement “aids our enemies. Trump’s interests don’t seem to align with the interests of the United States of America.”
Adam Kinzinger, meanwhile, retweeted a screenshot from the House Republicans that showed Biden walking away – which was captioned with the comment: “This is what weakness on the world stage looks like” – to denounce it in fiery terms.
Kinzinger wrote: “As still ‘technically’ a member of house Republicans, let me, with all my might, condemn this damn awful tweet during this crisis. You can criticize policy but this is insane and feeds into Putins narrative. But hey, retweets amirite?”
Madeleine Albright, the former secretary of state who served under Bill Clinton, warns in a New York Times op-ed that a full-scale invasion of Ukraine would be a “a historic error” by Vladimir Putin.
Albright notes that she first met Putin in early 2000, and she was struck by how he seemed “embarrassed by what happened to his country and determined to restore its greatness”.
“I have been reminded in recent months of that nearly three-hour session with Mr. Putin as he has massed troops on the border with neighboring Ukraine,” Albright writes.
“Mr. Putin has for years sought to burnish his country’s international reputation, expand Russia’s military and economic might, weaken NATO and divide Europe (while driving a wedge between it and the United States). Ukraine features in all of that.
“Instead of paving Russia’s path to greatness, invading Ukraine would ensure Mr. Putin’s infamy by leaving his country diplomatically isolated, economically crippled and strategically vulnerable in the face of a stronger, more united Western alliance.”
Joe Biden is expected to allow sanctions on the Russian company overseeing construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to move forward, according to a new report.
The report comes nearly a year after Biden used a national security waiver to block those sanctions, which have been championed by Republicans in Congress.
CNN reports:
The administration decided to move forward with rescinding the national security waiver after Germany on Tuesday announced that it was halting the certification of the pipeline, [one] official said. Sanctioning Nord Stream 2’s parent company, Nord Stream 2 AG -- a registered Swiss firm whose parent company is the Russian gas giant Gazprom -- is effectively a death knell to the project, the official added.
The move marks a significant shift in the administration’s policy toward Nord Stream 2, which had previously been to sanction some of the smaller entities involved in the project, including some Russian companies and ships that have been helping in the construction, but to hold off on sanctioning Nord Stream 2 AG and its CEO, Matthias Warnig.
The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board has criticized Joe Biden’s newly announced sanctions against Russia, arguing the measures do not go far enough to deter Vladimir Putin.
The conservative-leaning board writes:
‘Who in the Lord’s name does Putin think gives him the right to declare new so-called countries?’ President Biden asked Tuesday in announcing new sanctions against Russia. The answer is a complacent West, which has failed to impose serious costs despite more than a decade of Russian aggression.
At least the Administration overcame its initial reluctance to call Vladimir Putin’s deployment of troops in Eastern Ukraine an ‘invasion.’ Mr. Biden on Tuesday called it ‘the beginning of a Russian invasion,’ and he responded with what he said was the beginning of greater sanctions.
The White House bet seems to be that sanctions restraint will cause Mr. Putin to settle for holding the regions his forces now occupy and forgoing an assault on Kyiv. But the Russian has never been deterred before by Western restraint, and he may see this as more weakness. Mr. Putin responds only to strength, and the West still isn’t showing enough.
EU poised to announce wide-ranging Russia sanctions
Russia’s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, the commanders-in-chief of the Russian air force and Black Sea fleet, leading state “propagandists” and 351 Duma deputies are expected to be targeted in EU sanctions announced on Wednesday.
The measures, which have to be signed off by EU foreign ministers, would go further than those announced by the US and a significant distance beyond Boris Johnson’s Russia sanctions.
If approved, the EU will impose asset freezes and travel bans on 23 people, three banks and a notorious internet “troll factory” in St Petersburg, in response to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin’s decision to recognise the self-proclaimed republics in Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states.
The bloc is also expected to sanction 351 members of the Russian state Duma that voted for recognition of the two territories.
Joe Biden thought he would be remembered as the pandemic president, but finds himself commanding the arsenal of democracy in what could become the biggest military assault in Europe since the second world war.
The crisis escalated on Monday after Vladimir Putin recognised two breakaway territories in eastern Ukraine as independent entities, an apparent pretext for invasion.
“Who in the Lord’s name does Putin think gives him the right to declare new so-called countries on territory that belonged to his neighbours?” Biden demanded in the east room. “This is a flagrant violation of international law, and it demands a firm response from the international community.”
But the response he delivered did not go as far as some in Washington would have liked, receiving a cautious welcome from Democrats and failing to satisfy Republicans who accuse Biden of appeasement. It was a shot across Putin’s bows but also the work of an administration keeping some of its powder dry.
The logic here is that sanctions lose their potency as a deterrent if they are imposed too quickly: if somebody has been punished for something they haven’t yet done, they might as well do it anyway. But with the window for diplomacy rapidly closing, it may soon be too late for deterrence to mean anything.
Republicans offer scattered response to Biden's Russia sanctions
Greetings from Washington, live blog readers.
Joe Biden announced yesterday that his administration would issue sanctions on Russian financial institutions, sovereign debt and elite families in response to Vladimir Putin’s military actions in Ukraine.
The announcement came after Putin said Russia would recognize the two self-proclaimed republics in east Ukraine and send troops to the region, sparking international outrage.
For some Republicans, the sanctions issued by Biden are an inadequate response to Putin’s undermining of Ukrainian sovereignty.
This is a critical moment in history…..and President Biden is NOT seizing the moment.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) February 22, 2022
The sanctions outlined are woefully inadequate to deter Putin’s efforts to redraw the European map and dismember a neighboring democracy.
“This is a critical moment in history … and President Biden is NOT seizing the moment,” Republican senator Lindsey Graham said on Twitter.
“The sanctions outlined are woefully inadequate to deter Putin’s efforts to redraw the European map and dismember a neighboring democracy.”
But the leader of the Republican party, Donald Trump, has struck a far different tone on the Ukraine crisis.
In an interview with The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show, Trump described Putin’s maneuvers in Ukraine as “genius” and “very savvy”.
“I went in yesterday and there was a television screen, and I said, ‘This is genius.’ Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine, of Ukraine, Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that’s wonderful,” Trump said.
If Republicans want to criticize Biden over his response to Putin, they may need to get on the same page first. The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
