On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Lead,” Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA) responded to host Jake Tapper stating Russia is acting aggressively towards Ukraine under President Joe Biden in a way that they didn’t under former President Donald Trump by stating that Trump “tried to use Ukraine” and Putin “understood that and allowed that to trail along with the hope that maybe Mr. Trump would return to the presidency. But here he did not. So Mr. Putin pursues his efforts at overtaking anybody he can.”
After Dean said that Biden has been much harder on Putin than Trump, Tapper responded by pointing out that Trump “did provide Ukraine with lethal military aid. And Putin didn’t try to do this during the Trump years. He’s doing it now during the Biden years.”
Dean responded, “That’s a great challenge and a great point to make. But this is at a time when President Biden could not have been stronger in terms of our support for Ukraine. But you also saw what the former president did with Ukraine. He tried to use Ukraine. He tried to use it for his own purposes. And so, Mr. Putin, I’m pretty sure, understood that and allowed that to trail along with the hope that maybe Mr. Trump would return to the presidency. But here he did not. So Mr. Putin pursues his efforts at overtaking anybody he can. His incursion into Ukraine is wrong and unlawful. And so his threats now on the border are wrong and unlawful. We have to support the sovereignty of Ukraine, and he knows he’s up against a very strong, very centered adversary in the Biden administration.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.