(FreedomBeacon.com)- Many politicians have criticized President Joe Biden for not doing enough before Russia ended up invading Ukraine.
This week, a prominent Republican took that criticism one step further, saying the invasion of Ukraine by Russia never would’ve happened if former President Donald Trump were still in the White House.
Appearing on the “Meet the Press” program on NBC recently, former ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, criticized Biden for his handling of the entire situation. She said the U.S. was “late to the game” in deciding to take formal action against Russia, saying this “never would have happened” under Trump.
Despite her harsh criticism of the Biden administration, Haley said there was still time to right the wrongs by putting even more sanctions on Russia. She urged Biden to sanction every Russian energy company, to secure fighter planes to prepare for Ukraine, and to remove Russia from the entire international banking system.
On Tuesday, Biden did announce that the U.S. would ban all imports of Russian energy.
On the NBC program, Haley said:
“It’s not too late now, but we’ve got to get on the ball.”
The host of the show, Chuck Todd, tried to press Haley on the comments that Trump and some other Republicans have made that have seemingly praised Vladimir Putin, the Russian president.
Trump himself said Putin was “very savvy” and “genius” on an interview for a podcast recently. Haley responded to that questioning by saying:
“As much as everybody wants to talk about what he says. What I look at is what he did. He sanctioned Russia. He expelled diplomats. He shut off Nord Stream 2. He built up our military, and he made us energy independent.
“All of those things countered Putin and countered Russia. This [invasion] never would have happened under Trump.”
Some people believe that many of the things Trump did while in the White House were much more favorable to Russia, and Todd pushed back as a result on the comments Haley made.
Some of the things Trump did while in office to this regard include pausing military aid to Ukraine as well as rolling back sanctions in both 2017 and 2018 on companies that are owned by Russian oligarchs.
Todd took a snarky positioned when he said to Haley:
“You don’t think any of those things sent a message to Vladimir Putin that America is divided? The west is divided? And he can get away with whatever he wants?”
Haley’s response was that all U.S. leaders needed to learn one lesson from this entire situation: “When tyrants speak, we should listen.”
She continued:
“He said he was going to take Ukraine; he is. China said they were going to take Hong Kong; they did. He said that he wants to take Poland and the Baltics. We should believe him.”
Haley has been back and forth in her support and detraction from Trump in the past, but these comments have to be seen as completely backing everything he did while in office — and would have done if he were still there.
