Wednesday on FNC’s “Hannity,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) the upcoming meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.
Cruz was critical of Trump’s predecessor, former President Joe Biden, for his handling of the Ukraine-Russia war and predicted Trump would bring an end to the conflict.
“Senator, great to have you,” host Sean Hannity said. “First, your thoughts on the summit. I argue, and correct me if you think I’m wrong, you know, every one of these European leaders that are trying to weigh in and tell Donald Trump how to negotiate with Vladimir Putin, all of them are guilty of helping to fund his war machine, number one. Number two, they’re all impotent. Number three, Putin wouldn’t meet with one of them because they don’t have the stature to even meet with him. And I think the president has no fear expending political capital for a cause that really isn’t even American-based in the sense that we’re not benefiting greatly from it except with a safer world and less death, which I think is a noble goal. Thoughts?”
“Listen, the European leaders have demonstrated weakness towards Putin and towards our enemies for a long time,” Cruz replied. “And that’s a lot of what set Russia up to invade Ukraine. They have eagerly bought Russia’s oil and gas. They have funded the Russian military apparatus. And the reason we have a war in Ukraine is because of Joe Biden and the Democrats’ weakness. In particular, Joe Biden waived the sanctions on Nord Stream II, the undersea pipeline from Russia to Germany. I wrote those sanctions into law. I’m the author of that legislation. Donald Trump signed my sanctions legislation into law and shut down that pipeline. That prevented war.”
He continued, “When Joe Biden came in, he gave a multibillion-dollar gift to Vladimir Putin, and that caused the war in Ukraine. My hopes and prayers are with Donald Trump in Alaska over the next couple of days. I think President Trump is trying very, very hard to end this war. He has a record of ending wars, of bringing people together. But the way to do so is to do so from a position of strength. That’s what President Trump understands that the weakness of a Joe Biden, the weakness of appeasement does not end conflict. It creates even more conflicts.”
“So, in your monologue when you said there’s a very real chance President Trump will get up and leave if Putin refuses to concede anything, I think that’s right,” Cruz added. “That’s exactly what Ronald Reagan did in Reykjavik with Gorbachev. And it’s what led to winning the Cold War. We will end the war in Ukraine, but we will do so through a strong president and a strong commander-in-chief. That’s exactly what President Trump is giving us.”
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