House GOP slams Biden over Ukraine

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House Republicans tore into President Biden’s mixed messaging on the Ukraine crisis Thursday, describing it as the latest foreign policy fumble during his first year in office.

Biden suggested during a White House news conference Wednesday that the Western response to a Russian invasion of Ukraine would be less severe if it was a “minor incursion.” That statement caused alarm in Kiev and led the White House to try and walk back the remarks after critics argued they constituted a “green light” for Kremlin military action.

“The number one job, number one job of the commander in chief is to keep this country safe,” Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.) told reporters Thursday. “Yesterday, Joe Biden literally threw the Ukrainian people under the bus by hedging and essentially, according to the Ukrainian foreign minister, giving the Russians a green light and giving Putin a green light if they only make a ‘minor incursion.’”

“Words matter,” added Waltz. “Words matter when you’re in this type of crisis, and words matter when you’re standing at the presidential podium.

“Now, he may have used his team to try to spin and backtrack afterward, but Putin got the message, the Kremlin got the message and the Ukrainian people got the message. And I have to tell you the Chinese, the North Koreans, the Iranian regime, the Taliban, Al Qaeda and ISIS, they all got the message, too.”

The White House cleanup effort began with a statement from press secretary Jen Psaki moments after the news conference ended.

“President Biden has been clear with the Russian President: If any Russian military forces move across the Ukrainian border, that’s a renewed invasion, and it will be met with a swift, severe, and united response from the United States and our Allies,” she said.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky blasts Biden over ‘minor incursion’ comment.

Biden himself echoed that statement Thursday morning, saying at the top of a White House meeting on infrastructure that he had been “absolutely clear” with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“He has no misunderstanding. If any, any assembled Russian units move across the Ukrainian border, that is an invasion,” the president said. “It will be met with [a] severe and coordinated economic response that I’ve discussed in detail with our allies as well as laid out very clearly for President Putin … there is no doubt — let there be no doubt at all — that if Putin makes this choice, Russia will pay a heavy price.”

Back on Capitol Hill, Waltz, a former Green Beret and veteran of the war in Afghanistan, also noted that Biden had said during the press conference that “I make no apologies” for pulling US forces out of Afghanistan this past August.