Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., on Sunday lamented the most powerful and effective sanctions against Russia have yet to be imposed, essentially giving President Vladimir Putin license to invade Ukraine.
In an interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” Cotton said the strategy by President Joe Biden “has once again put us on the back foot and ceded the initiative to Vladimir Putin.”
“The Ukrainian president put it very well yesterday in a speech in which he said if Joe Biden and [Vice President] Kamala Harris are convinced Vladimir Putin is convinced to invade, what are they waiting for? Why are they not imposing sanctions now?” Cotton said.
“Why are they not at least announcing the kind of sanctions they will impose,” he said, adding: “Unfortunately, it seems like the president's going to wait until Putin decided to go for the jugular and announce half measures that will not have that kind of effect on Vladimir Putin.”
According to Cotton, Biden’s “concessions and weakness” over the last year on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, the Colonial pipeline hack and “the one-sided extension of the nuclear arms control agreement we have with Russia” has only signaled to Putin “that President Biden was not up to the task of deterring him.”
Cotton also vowed a top priority following what he’s predicting will be a midterm election sweep by GOP in November will be grilling infectious disease expert and National Institutes of Health director Anthony Fauci about the financing of virus research in Wuhan labs in China.
“When Republicans win back the Congress later this year, of course, our first priority is going to be getting inflation and crime under control, but oversight is an important constitutional authority for Congress.,” he said. “One top priority for oversight will be getting answers from Francis Collins and Tony Fauci and what their agency was doing to fund very dangerous research inside those Wuhan labs.”
“Two years ago after we had that conversation, liberal media outlets like The Washington Post attacked us for spreading misinformation and discredited conspiracy theories,” Cotton said. “Now almost any informed observer knows that this virus almost certainly came from those laboratories.”
But, he noted, “I am doubtful that China will ever open up, I'm doubtful that any of the evidence still exists.”
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Fran Beyer ✉
Fran Beyer is a writer with Newsmax and covers national politics.
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