Representative Brian Mast (R-FL) appeared on News Nation to discuss President Joe Biden (D) and his approach to the war in Ukraine. First, the Florida congressman says that he’s been hesitant to send taxpayer funds to the European nation because he believes the Biden administration has not set forth a clear objective to win against the Russians.
Why is Joe Biden pouring billions of dollars of your tax dollars into Ukraine when he has no plan to win? pic.twitter.com/6EKRU2fuBL
— Rep. Brian Mast (@RepBrianMast) June 11, 2024
“There's a lot of conversation prior to me speaking about Ukraine. I was one of those individuals that absolutely pushed back against Ukraine funding. Because we see two very different commitments as it relates to conflict and winning war. Is there going to be strength and a total commitment to victory or not? And you were talking about the Biden administration. They're pushing Ukraine right now to say, don't use weapons against Moscow, against Russia proper. Only use weapons inside of Ukraine,” said Rep. Mast.
He continued, “Imagine if it were World War Two, and that was the lack of commitment that we had. ‘Well listen, we know that you went into France, we know that you went into Belgium, the Netherlands, all these other places, Poland, but we're not going to go touch Berlin, that would be escalation.’ That's the kind of weakness that you have coming out of the Biden administration. And you juxtapose that to a Trump administration, which is about your yes is yes, your no is no, and you're going to show strength on behalf of the United States of America, which is a bigger and stronger country than the rest.”
Later during the media appearance, Rep. Mast was asked about the possible encroachment from Russian President Vladimir Putin on NATO countries, and how to approach it.
“The pushback needs to be on a number of different fronts, some of which we look at, but we don't do them in the totality that they need. We will start economically and say, if you're going to sanction a country you wouldn't sanction a farmer without sanctioning their crops. But we see Russia and Iran that may have a larger growth in their GDPs in this year than the United States of America does because those sanctions are not sanctioning their oil and gas in the way that they need to be. That's something that America could be addressing, certainly with Iran and snapping back those sanctions on them. And certainly making sure that the ghost fleets of vessels that get Russian oil and gas to China to other places to Iran is not taking place. Otherwise, their economy will continue to grow, they'll continue to be able to fund the war. That's the economic side of it.
“I spoke about the kinetic side of it already. Don't push back against Ukraine to tell them ‘Hey, don't send ordinates into Russia.’ That's leveling the playing field. That's a total commitment to helping them get to victory. But right now, the United States of America is not supporting Ukraine to win. They're sort of supporting Ukraine not to lose.”
Congressman Mast represents Florida’s 21st District.
