Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) on Wednesday suggested Russian President Vladimir Putin was emboldened to invade Ukraine by President Biden’s botched withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.
“I think that precipitous withdrawal from Afghanistan was a message to people like Putin that America was rethinking our forward-leaning position in the world. And I don’t think if we cut and run in Afghanistan, Putin would have tried this at all,” McConnell said during an appearance on Fox News’ America’s Newsroom.
MCCONNELL: President Biden’s precipitous withdrawal from Afghanistan was a message to adversaries like Putin that America was rethinking our forward-leaning position in the world. If we had not cut and run in Afghanistan, I do not think Putin would have tried to invade Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/myCMP8XBqx
— Senate Republican Communications Center (@SRCC) March 2, 2022
He went on to add that there should be “no confusion about Vladimir Putin, and there’s been some confusion lately.”
“He’s a thug. He’s a killer. He’s been on the rampage, and this will not end well for him,” McConnell said of Putin.
McConnell’s comments come one day after Biden failed to mention the deadly Afghanistan withdrawal during his first State of the Union address. Thirteen American servicemembers died in a suicide bombing outside the Kabul airport as the evacuation was underway.
While Biden did not mention the United States’s exit from Afghanistan in his speech, he spoke about soldiers being exposed to toxic chemicals overseas, adding that his late son Beau Biden may also have been exposed to the chemicals.
Biden said many soldiers developed a “cancer that would put them in a flag-draped coffin,” at which point Representative Lauren Boebert (R., Colo.) yelled from the audience: “13 of them,” in referrence to the 13 servicemembers killed.
Meanwhile, on the seventh day of Russia’s invasion, McConnell praised Ukrainian President Zelensky’s leadership.
“The demonstration of incredible bravery and this stunningly impressive president is the reason the rest of the world is rallying to the cause,” he said.
“Vladimir Putin’s invasion has done more to unify NATO than any president of either party has been able to accomplish in all these years,” the Senate minority leader added.
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