The Daily Signal - Hawley Warns Biden Against Sending Troops To Ukraine: ‘We Do Not Need American Soldiers Fighting in Europe’

Episode Date: February 24, 2022

Sen. Josh Hawley accused President Joe Biden of “haphazard, feckless foreign policy” Thursday, insisting that “we do not need American soldiers fighting in Europe.”  The Missouri Republican discussed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine during a Thursday interview with The Daily Signal's Mary Margaret Olohan at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida, where he repeatedly emphasized that Biden’s “weakness” has led to the escalating situation in Ukraine.  “We need to be really clear that what the Russians are doing is absolutely wrong, that it is a violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty, and now we need a policy,” Hawley said. “Joe Biden hasn’t had any policy.” “We should shut down Russia’s energy production and open ours,” he added. “We are the greatest energy-producing nation in the world. Joe Biden has shut down our energy production, that’s sent a message of weakness, it’s sent a message of dependence, that made us more dependent on foreign adversaries.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a Daily Signal podcast bonus episode recorded at the Conservative Political Action Conference. I'm Mary Margaret Olihan, and I have the privilege of sitting down with Senator Josh Hawley and getting his take on Russia's invasion of Ukraine. He'll explain what he thinks of the Biden administration's posturing, how he would have handled this situation, and who the U.S. should really be focusing on. Let's dive in. My guest today is Senator Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri. Senator Holly, thank you so much for joining us. Thanks for having me. So we'd love to ask you about the situation in Ukraine.

As of last night or today, Russia has launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. What are your thoughts on this? Well, we need to be really clear that what the Russians are doing is absolutely wrong, that it is a violation of Ukraine's sovereignty, and now we need a policy. Joe Biden hasn't had any policy. His weaknesses helped lead us into this catastrophe. So the policy needs to be we should shut down Russia's energy production and open ours. We are the greatest energy-producing nation in the world.

Biden has shut down our energy production. That sent a message of weakness. It's in a message of dependence that made us more dependent on foreign adversaries. We need to open up that energy production, sanction the Russians, arm the Ukrainians. That's what I would do. And at the same time, let's not take our eye off of China. They are our number one security threat, and we've got to make sure we're ready to counter them. And do you think President Joe Biden's sanctions have gone far enough?

No. I mean, they've been the usual half-measures, half-hearted. This is a guy who, when he came to office, let's not forget. lifted the sanctions on Putin's pipeline. He greenlighted it. Why do you think Putin feels so emboldened? It's because of Joe Biden's weakness. He shut down our pipeline. He opened up the Russians pipeline. We should do just the opposite. I've seen a lot of Republicans and conservatives saying that Biden's handling of this thus far as embarrassed the United States in front of other nations. Do you agree with that? Oh, yeah. I mean, this has been a guy who stumbles from one foreign policy disaster to another.

He's managed to lose two nations in the space of six months. I mean, first Afghanistan with his disastrous and chaotic withdrawal, and now Ukraine with his haphazard, feckless foreign policy. So it's time to show some strategic purpose backed up by clear-eyed American resolve. That's what we need right now. We don't need panic. We don't need to send thousands more troops to Europe. I think that's a mistake. What we need to do is bring the Russian energy sector to its knees, open up America's

energy sector, and help the Ukrainians defend themselves. Well, what should happen if Putin continues invading Ukraine? I would say just the same. And we need to make sure that the Ukrainian people get the military help so they can defend themselves. I don't want to send our troops to Ukraine. I don't want to send more American troops to Europe than are there already. I think that's a mistake. But what we need to do is equip the Ukrainians to defend themselves. And we need to open up American energy production. I can't stress how important I think this is. Where does Russia make its money? Energy. What has Joe Biden given them? Energy. He's allowed them to have energy dominance in the world. mistake, now's the time to fix that. And do you have any fears that this will involve the United States in a world war? Well, I think if Joe Biden isn't careful, it could. And this is why I'm opposed to sending more troops to Europe than are already there. Listen, we have thousands, thousands of thousands of thousands of troops in Europe.

We do not need more troops in Europe. We do not need American soldiers fighting in Europe. We need to be clear about that. We need to be focusing our military might and our military posturing on China. China is our number one security threat. So what we need to do with Ukraine is we need to show the Russians resolve. We need to shut down their energy sector. We need to open up ours and help the Ukrainians defend themselves.

Now, it doesn't seem like President Joe Biden is planning on following any of this advice, does it? It doesn't seem like it. No, I don't know what his policy is. I don't think he's settled on it. I mean, it's right now, it's an assorted array of half-hearted sanctions and a lot of big talk. And unfortunately, thousands more troops to Europe. Now, he means for that, I think, to be window dressing because he says, oh, troops won't fight. But yet sending thousands more troops to Europe means those troops aren't

available to go somewhere else. And where we should be looking in terms of our forward posture militarily is Asia. It's China. So I'm opposed to sending more troops to Europe. I'm opposed to his half-hearted measures. I think it's time for some clear purpose and resolve. The final question for you, I've seen people suggest that had Biden handled this withdrawal from Afghanistan in a different manner, this might not happen. Do you think that there's any truth to that? I think that there is a lot of truth to that in that I don't know how you can look at Afghanistan and look at the total incompetence that Joe Biden showed in that evacuation and not think that it would be emboldening to people like Putin. I think what they saw was this administration can't plan, this administration can't execute,

this administration has no sense of strategic purpose, and frankly, I think you're seeing some of the consequences of that right now. Well, Senator Hawley, thank you so much. We really appreciate you being here with us today. Thanks for having me. And that'll do for today's episode. Stay tuned for the Daily Signals interviews with the conservative movement's best and brightest

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