During his appearance on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday, Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, criticized fellow Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama for his comments regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
During an interview with host Margaret Brennan, a clip of Senator Tuberville’s recent appearance on Steve Bannon’s War Room was played. In the clip, the senator stated that Russian President Vladimir Putin “doesn’t want Ukraine and doesn’t want Europe.”
According to Tuberville, Bannon was informed that the individual in question has sufficient land to his name. The only concern he has is that American weapons are not aimed towards Moscow from Ukraine.
Inquiring about Senator Tuberville’s recent comments, Brennan raised concerns about his labeling of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as a “dictator and unconstitutional.” She pressed Senator Graham to clarify whether or not this sentiment is reflective of the entire Republican party and if he believes that Tuberville is parroting “Russian talking points.”
According to Graham, Putin’s intentions are solely his own, and not representative of anyone else. After conducting extensive research on Putin’s goals, Graham has concluded that the Russian leader’s ultimate objective is to recreate the Russian Empire. Graham believes that Putin will not cease his efforts in Ukraine and that it has nothing to do with NATO or American weapons in Ukraine. Instead, it is a result of Putin’s megalomaniac tendencies and his desire to use force to achieve his goals.
In his statement, he expressed his disagreement with Senator Tuberville’s analysis of Putin, stating that it fails to capture the essence of Putin’s character. He went on to clarify that he believes Putin to be an outlier in the Republican Party, but personally likes him nonetheless.
Graham’s office was contacted by Newsweek and Tuberville’s office was reached out to via a contact form on his webpage. Any comments provided will be added to this article.
While in France to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion, the U.S. envoy, which includes South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham and President Joe Biden, received a controversial statement from Graham. He referred to a quote from former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, calling World War II an “unnecessary war,” and labeled the D-Day invasion a “failure.”
According to Graham, Winston Churchill referred to it as the “unnecessary war.” He believes that there were multiple opportunities to prevent Hitler’s actions.
Since February 2022, Zelensky and Biden have been staunch allies, especially given Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Just before their bilateral meeting in Paris, Zelensky expressed his gratitude to the president and his administration for their “significant support” during the war. Biden had previously signed a foreign aid package into law in April that provides Ukraine with nearly $61 billion in aid.
According to Graham, assisting Ukraine in its battle against Russia could yield significant economic advantages for the United States and other Western nations.
According to Graham, there is an opportunity to reset the ongoing war now that the opposing side has acquired weapons. Zelensky’s top priority is to pursue the Russian assets across the globe and seize the funds from Russia’s sovereign wealth funds to be given to Ukraine. “We’ve got a chance to reset this war now that they have the weapons. Here’s what he [Zelensky] wanted most of all, for us to go after the Russian assets all over the world, take the money from the sovereign wealth funds of Russia and give it to Ukraine,” Graham shared.
In his remarks, he suggested seizing the $300 billion of Russian sovereign wealth that is currently present in Europe and redirecting it to Ukraine. He also recommended the seizure of Russian assets in America. He further proposed that the US should designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism under US law. According to him, the Ukrainian President Zelensky was highly enthusiastic about this idea and reacted positively to it. If Russia is labeled as a state sponsor of terrorism under US law, it would be a significant setback for the country.
On Sunday afternoon, an email was sent to the U.S. Department of State and the Kremlin by Newsweek requesting for their comments.