ICYMI: McConnell on America’s Newsroom
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) joined Dana Perino on Fox’s ‘America’s Newsroom’. See below for highlights or click here for the full interview.
On the getting aid to Ukraine:
“It's actually only .2% of our gross domestic product. So put in that context: it is not a lot of money for us, but it is very significant step for them, because it gives them the more sophisticated weapons they need to hold the Russians at bay and we’re optimistic these people want to win. I mean the Russians are trying to take their country and they have enormous incentive and it doesn’t require any of our personnel. We are not getting any Americans killed, we are helping them defend their independence and also degrade the military of one of our biggest adversaries, the Russians.”
On President Biden’s slow response to aiding Ukraine:
“The president made two big mistakes. Number one, withdrawal from Afghanistan, which was not at war. We kept the lid on terrorism there. We shouldn't have withdrawn the troops. When we did, that was like sending a green light to Putin who was already thinking seriously about moving his troops up against the border. Secondly, we didn't give them sufficient weaponry soon enough. We tended to react too slowly. So the administration did make a number of mistakes, but at least, at this point, after a long delay, we've all come together and done what needed to be done to help the Ukrainians. You know, this is a huge issue to the whole world. The Prime Minister of Japan the other day in an address to Congress talked about Ukraine. It is a big deal for every country in the world that elects its own leadership.”
On the border crisis:
“I think our southern border has been unmitigated disaster for this administration and our country. We can walk and chew gum at the same time, we ought to be able to fix that border as well as help democratically elected countries around the world stand up to Chinese, Russians and Iranians. We had a negotiation with the administration over trying to get some legislation they would agree to. That fell by the wayside side because a lot of my members, including myself, were hoping we could make a better deal with them. We have to deal with them, they have the White House, the have the Senate. I think we ought to address that as soon as possible. If I were the president, I would fix this myself and take the heat away.”
On forcing the divestment of TikTok:
“Let me tell you what that was about, that was about national security and I'm a big defender of the First Amendment and free speech, but when it comes to national security, we were all concerned about the control of TikTok by the Chinese.”
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Related Issues: Russia, China, National Security, Ukraine, Border Security
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