On Tuesday’s broadcast of the Fox Business Network’s “Kudlow,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) stated that he believes President Donald Trump wants Vladimir Putin “to change, but hope is not a strategy.” And “We can choke off their oil sales with what’s called secondary sanctions, and then they’ll be forced to come to the table.”
Host Larry Kudlow asked, “Vladimir Putin, is it time for Mr. Trump and the U.S. Senate to get much tougher on Putin? Trump called him going crazy. Maybe that’s true, maybe that’s not true. Are you fixing to step up some sanctions on Russia, or how do you see it, sir?”
Kennedy answered, “Well, yes, we should. The President says Putin has changed. He hasn’t changed. Putin is and always has been a pirate. He’s got blood under his fingernails. He’s a butcher of his own people. And he’s not going to change his behavior until he’s forced to. The President, I think, wants him to change, but hope is not a strategy. What we need to do is choke…Russia to death financially. Russia can’t make it without oil. We can choke off their oil sales with what’s called secondary sanctions, and then they’ll be forced to come to the table. And, in my opinion, I’ve said this for a while, President Trump needs to make it clear to Putin that if he doesn’t want to come to the table and negotiate a reasonable settlement, we’ll hit him so hard that they may get better but they’ll never get well and we can do that by choking off his oil sales. But, right now, hoping they’ll do better, hope’s not a strategy, man. You’ve got to hit Putin right between the eyes.”
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