WEBVTT - Will Tanks Roll In Ukraine? 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:03.960 We are in the early stages of a new presidential administration, 0:00:04.040 --> 0:00:07.320 which can only mean one thing. Russia is planning to 0:00:07.360 --> 0:00:11.119 invade a sovereign state, according to news reports. According to 0:00:11.480 --> 0:00:15.000 defense ministers abroad, the tanks could start rolling in as 0:00:15.040 --> 0:00:17.880 little as a month. This is Verdict with Ted Cruz. 0:00:24.000 --> 0:00:27.840 Omaha Steaks is a proud sponsor of Verdict with Ted Cruz. 0:00:28.600 --> 0:00:31.080 The holidays are right around the corner, and we know 0:00:31.240 --> 0:00:35.000 gifting is tricky. 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That's eight five 0:03:57.000 --> 0:03:59.840 five seven six eight one eight eight three, or text 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:03.120 Cactus to six five five three two again that's eight 0:04:03.160 --> 0:04:05.640 five five seven sixty eight one eight eight three or 0:04:05.720 --> 0:04:09.360 text Cactus to six five five three two. Welcome back 0:04:09.400 --> 0:04:12.960 to Verdict with Ted Cruz. I'm Michael Knowles, having deja 0:04:13.040 --> 0:04:15.400 vu all over again. Hold on just a second, Michael, 0:04:15.400 --> 0:04:17.039 hold on just this again. Let let me jump in 0:04:17.120 --> 0:04:19.560 here because I think there's another very important topic that 0:04:19.600 --> 0:04:21.719 we might want to touch on right here at the 0:04:21.720 --> 0:04:24.440 top of the show. So, if I'm a senator, um, 0:04:24.839 --> 0:04:27.360 Jimmy Kimmel, can we address this for just a second, 0:04:27.360 --> 0:04:30.560 because Jimmy Kimmel has been going after you for about 0:04:30.560 --> 0:04:33.920 a week now. Yes, we're laughing because our viewers are 0:04:33.920 --> 0:04:38.160 probably aware of this. He's been tweeting out some kind 0:04:38.160 --> 0:04:41.520 of disturbing, disgusting images of you. Well, what do you 0:04:41.560 --> 0:04:44.200 make of this? What is going on here? Well, look, 0:04:44.680 --> 0:04:49.800 Jimmy may be a Russian Communist at a minimum. He's 0:04:49.839 --> 0:04:52.920 clearly disturbed. And you know, I'm kind of reminded of 0:04:53.560 --> 0:04:57.520 the mean Girl's meme. You're kind of obsessed with me. 0:04:58.720 --> 0:05:01.440 Every night, Jimmy Kimmel's seems to be hitting me. In 0:05:01.520 --> 0:05:06.600 his monologue, he put out this really horrific photoshopped image 0:05:06.640 --> 0:05:11.479 of my head on this fat dude's naked body who 0:05:11.600 --> 0:05:15.280 is straddling an enormous hot dog, which which I don't 0:05:15.279 --> 0:05:18.720 know if this is like some homoerotic fatasy he has. 0:05:18.560 --> 0:05:21.200 It's a little frightening. I guess I should be flattered 0:05:21.200 --> 0:05:24.760 that it is a ginormous hot dog, but I don't 0:05:24.800 --> 0:05:29.520 understand why this exists in the Twitter sphere. I will say, though, 0:05:29.520 --> 0:05:31.680 that I do have a standard policy, which is every 0:05:31.680 --> 0:05:35.760 time Jimmy hits me, and it seems to be a 0:05:33.960 --> 0:05:39.600 regular a regular occasion, I respond by simply observing that 0:05:40.120 --> 0:05:43.720 when Jimmy and I last saw each other, we played basketball. 0:05:43.800 --> 0:05:47.120 We played one on one hoops and long and short 0:05:47.160 --> 0:05:48.520 of it, and actually long of it because it was 0:05:48.560 --> 0:05:51.039 a really long and ugly game. But the long and 0:05:51.080 --> 0:05:53.279 short of it is I kicked his ass, and so 0:05:53.360 --> 0:05:57.719 I've had some fun putting out a highlight video entitled 0:05:57.760 --> 0:06:02.839 Buckets and Blocks that consists of me hitting jump shots, 0:06:02.960 --> 0:06:06.680 driving to the lane, driving left, driving right, scoring on him, 0:06:06.880 --> 0:06:10.760 and then the blocks are just rejecting the hell out 0:06:10.760 --> 0:06:13.120 of his shots, one after the other after the other. 0:06:13.560 --> 0:06:15.800 A few times I foul the hell out of him too, 0:06:16.200 --> 0:06:20.600 but it is it is a wonderful reminder that that 0:06:21.560 --> 0:06:23.880 and by the way, that that game came to pass. 0:06:24.600 --> 0:06:28.120 We actually raised eighty thousand dollars for charity to play 0:06:28.160 --> 0:06:31.640 that game. But neither one of us wanted to lose, 0:06:31.839 --> 0:06:35.000 and well one of us did, and Jimmy seems to 0:06:35.000 --> 0:06:38.280 be having a really hard time getting over it. Yeah, 0:06:38.279 --> 0:06:41.039 this is a pretty extreme case of sour grapes. I 0:06:41.040 --> 0:06:44.520 think mixing that with his ideology and man like, I 0:06:44.560 --> 0:06:46.960 think the word you used as corrective was pretty disturbing, 0:06:46.960 --> 0:06:48.839 pretty disgusting, the things that he was posted on Twitter. 0:06:49.800 --> 0:06:55.440 It's uh, you know. I have to say the game 0:06:55.560 --> 0:06:57.679 was interesting because he didn't have a sense of humor 0:06:57.720 --> 0:07:02.479 about it. He was like really serious and like when 0:07:02.480 --> 0:07:04.520 we walked out on the court. We played at TSU 0:07:04.640 --> 0:07:08.440 Texas Southern University. Six thousand people came out to watch 0:07:08.480 --> 0:07:11.320 the game, I mean, and it was as we're walking 0:07:11.320 --> 0:07:14.720 out there, he comes out to confetti cannons and like 0:07:14.880 --> 0:07:18.040 loud music and we had you know, Gus Johnson and 0:07:18.080 --> 0:07:22.760 Isaiah Thomas and we're broadcasting the event. But but as 0:07:22.760 --> 0:07:25.440 we're walking out, he turns to me and says, prepared 0:07:25.440 --> 0:07:32.120 to be humiliated. And it was not. It was not ingest. 0:07:32.280 --> 0:07:37.120 It was like Ivan Drago and Rocky for going. You know, 0:07:37.280 --> 0:07:41.160 if he dies, he dies. That that was essentially his 0:07:41.160 --> 0:07:45.840 his his sentiment, and I think he thought he was 0:07:45.880 --> 0:07:49.360 going to have a great time dominating me, and that 0:07:49.360 --> 0:07:52.280 that is not in fact what happened. Now, I will 0:07:52.320 --> 0:07:56.200 say one of the ESPN announcers had a point he said, 0:07:56.800 --> 0:08:01.680 if doctor Naysmith had seen what happened year tonight, he 0:08:01.680 --> 0:08:05.080 would have invented a different game. It was an ugly 0:08:05.160 --> 0:08:11.640 game of basketball, but aw aws aw, and poor Jimmy's 0:08:11.640 --> 0:08:13.840 got to live with that the rest of his life. Yeah, well, 0:08:13.840 --> 0:08:15.720 I think that's that's where we leave that. I mean, 0:08:15.760 --> 0:08:17.680 he can do a seller grapes on Twitter, but you've 0:08:17.680 --> 0:08:20.400 always got that win in your pockets. All right, Liz, 0:08:20.440 --> 0:08:22.040 we'll see you back at the end of the show 0:08:22.400 --> 0:08:26.880 to get into the mail bag. And frankly, I see 0:08:26.880 --> 0:08:29.240 why you had to get to that topic first, because 0:08:29.320 --> 0:08:34.800 as disturbing as the invasion by Russia of another country is, 0:08:35.559 --> 0:08:38.880 nothing could possibly be as disturbing as that photo on 0:08:39.000 --> 0:08:41.719 the hot dog from Jimmy Kimmel's account. So we will 0:08:41.720 --> 0:08:43.760 see you at the end of the show. Now, Senator, 0:08:43.880 --> 0:08:47.160 into another disturbing topic. This is real. I mean, this 0:08:47.280 --> 0:08:51.480 is not just a more media hype about something. We 0:08:51.559 --> 0:08:54.800 know that Vladimir Putin invaded Georgia during the Bush administration. 0:08:54.840 --> 0:08:58.960 We know he invaded Crimea during the Obama administration. Now 0:08:59.080 --> 0:09:03.840 it appears that he is poised to go into Ukraine again. 0:09:04.480 --> 0:09:07.120 How credible is this? What does the timeline look like 0:09:07.200 --> 0:09:09.559 and why are we supposed to care? What are we 0:09:09.559 --> 0:09:11.880 supposed to do about it? Yeah, so it is, It 0:09:12.000 --> 0:09:15.439 is very credible. The timeline is short. So there are 0:09:15.520 --> 0:09:19.120 right now over one hundred thousand Russian troops massed on 0:09:19.160 --> 0:09:22.240 the border of Ukraine, and those numbers are growing. They're 0:09:22.240 --> 0:09:26.760 growing on a daily basis. And the Biden administration over 0:09:26.760 --> 0:09:30.800 the past several days is declassified documents that suggest we 0:09:30.920 --> 0:09:34.480 could see an invasion of Ukraine as early as as 0:09:34.520 --> 0:09:36.920 the beginning of next year, as January of February of 0:09:37.000 --> 0:09:42.720 next year. You know, there are several points, and this 0:09:42.760 --> 0:09:44.640 stuff is complicated, but you know, in many ways we're 0:09:44.640 --> 0:09:47.800 getting back to to really the the origins of Verdict. 0:09:47.800 --> 0:09:50.480 When we started, you know, our very first episode in 0:09:50.960 --> 0:09:54.360 the basement in the bowels of DC and on the 0:09:54.920 --> 0:10:01.040 first impeachment trial was explaining Ukraine and Burris an impeachment 0:10:01.120 --> 0:10:03.720 and natural gas and all of that. You remember, one 0:10:03.720 --> 0:10:05.760 of our first episodes said, all right, well what is Ukraine. 0:10:05.800 --> 0:10:08.840 Let's start with that. You know, Ukraine is a country. 0:10:08.880 --> 0:10:13.280 It is a country that is to the west of Russia. 0:10:13.640 --> 0:10:15.280 It is a country that used to be to the 0:10:15.880 --> 0:10:19.000 part of the Soviet Union, and when the Soviet Union 0:10:19.040 --> 0:10:21.160 broke out, it's one of many countries that became its 0:10:21.200 --> 0:10:26.240 own independent country. Why does Russia want to invade Ukraine? 0:10:26.240 --> 0:10:29.200 The simple answer. Vladimir Putin has been very candid about it. 0:10:29.240 --> 0:10:32.400 He has said that he considers the dissolution of the 0:10:32.400 --> 0:10:36.319 Soviet Union to be the single greatest geopolitical disaster of 0:10:36.360 --> 0:10:39.800 the twentieth century. He wants to reassemble the Soviet Union. 0:10:39.840 --> 0:10:44.760 He has images of Russian greatness and Soviet greatness and 0:10:44.800 --> 0:10:47.560 he wants to restore that, and that means he wants 0:10:47.600 --> 0:10:52.280 to conquer his neighbors. Now, why is this happening now? 0:10:52.440 --> 0:10:55.040 Some of it is testing a new president, and you're 0:10:55.080 --> 0:10:57.360 absolutely right that Russia and all of our enemies test 0:10:57.440 --> 0:11:01.360 a new president. Some of it is a response to 0:11:01.520 --> 0:11:06.800 Biden's incredible weakness and ineffectiveness in Afghanistan and the disastrous 0:11:06.840 --> 0:11:10.800 withdrawal and surrender there, which we've talked about on Verdict, 0:11:10.840 --> 0:11:14.920 made every enemy of America much more likely to engage 0:11:14.960 --> 0:11:17.880 in aggression against US because they took a measure of 0:11:17.920 --> 0:11:20.800 the man in the Oval Office and determined Joe Biden 0:11:20.920 --> 0:11:24.080 is unlikely to do anything about it. But There's another 0:11:24.120 --> 0:11:26.760 cause here, which we've talked about before on Verdict, but 0:11:26.800 --> 0:11:29.920 I think it is worth drilling down in some detail, 0:11:30.600 --> 0:11:36.559 and that cause of this Russian hostility is a decision 0:11:36.720 --> 0:11:43.040 Joe Biden personally made to surrender to Russia on Nordstream too, 0:11:43.080 --> 0:11:46.680 a natural gas pipeline that Russia is building from Russia 0:11:46.679 --> 0:11:50.760 to Germany. And that decision Biden took what had been 0:11:50.920 --> 0:11:55.200 a foreign policy victory that we had won, and he 0:11:55.320 --> 0:11:59.240 turned it into a loss. And that is the direct 0:11:59.480 --> 0:12:04.240 but or cause of why Russia is prepared to invade Ukraine. 0:12:04.880 --> 0:12:10.520 Now let's start with what does a pipeline have to 0:12:10.559 --> 0:12:14.440 do with Ukraine? Because that that's not immediately evident to 0:12:14.559 --> 0:12:17.160 someone who is analyzing it and thinking through it. Well, 0:12:17.360 --> 0:12:19.160 I remember I had this thought when you when you 0:12:19.200 --> 0:12:21.040 brought it up center, and we we've talked about it 0:12:21.080 --> 0:12:22.960 a little bit on this show. But I would like 0:12:23.040 --> 0:12:25.000 because because it's things seem to be coming to a head. 0:12:25.080 --> 0:12:27.240 So I do want to be able to understand this. 0:12:27.480 --> 0:12:31.080 But I think I think there's this question of, as 0:12:31.120 --> 0:12:34.920 Barack Obama said, why do I care if Russia exerts 0:12:35.000 --> 0:12:38.240 influence in its traditional sphere of influence? What do I 0:12:38.440 --> 0:12:42.160 care about Ukraine? I don't know anything. Most people, as 0:12:42.200 --> 0:12:44.000 you point out, probably don't even know where Ukraine is 0:12:44.040 --> 0:12:46.320 on a map. And and what does it have to 0:12:46.360 --> 0:12:48.839 do with this pipeline. I guess I care about pipelines 0:12:48.880 --> 0:12:51.160 because I care when gas goes through the roof like 0:12:51.200 --> 0:12:55.520 it is doing right now. But but where is the 0:12:55.600 --> 0:13:01.120 interest for the average American citizen? So Vladimer Putin is 0:13:01.160 --> 0:13:05.880 a bully, He's a thug, he's a tyrant. He commits 0:13:06.080 --> 0:13:11.360 murder and torture and lies and oppression on a regular basis, 0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:15.880 and he wants to dominate his neighbors. He wants to 0:13:15.880 --> 0:13:19.960 rebuild the Soviet Union. Now, look, we spent decades fighting 0:13:19.960 --> 0:13:24.120 a Cold War. The Soviet Union was a very dangerous adversary. 0:13:24.160 --> 0:13:27.600 It's not an America's interest to see Putin rebuild the 0:13:27.640 --> 0:13:30.680 Soviet Union. It's not an America's interest to see an 0:13:30.800 --> 0:13:34.880 enemy who wants to defeat us gets stronger and more powerful. 0:13:35.840 --> 0:13:38.360 When it comes to energy, there's a second component of it, 0:13:38.400 --> 0:13:44.679 which is that Putin uses energy to blackmail Europe, to 0:13:45.480 --> 0:13:49.400 force Europe to do what he wants. And you know, 0:13:49.480 --> 0:13:51.800 there's a phrase that John McCain used to use that 0:13:51.840 --> 0:13:54.880 I think is a really apt phrase, which is that 0:13:55.080 --> 0:14:00.360 Russia is a gas station with a country attached, which 0:14:00.440 --> 0:14:05.440 is the source of Putin's money that he uses to 0:14:06.679 --> 0:14:10.280 pay his army, to buy his tanks, to buy his missiles, 0:14:10.280 --> 0:14:13.400 to develop the nuclear weapons he has pointed at you 0:14:13.679 --> 0:14:18.000 right now in Nashville, pointed at every major country in America. 0:14:18.320 --> 0:14:22.000 The source of that money is energy, selling oil and gas. Now, 0:14:23.120 --> 0:14:27.560 twenty fourteen was the last time Putin invaded Ukraine, and 0:14:27.640 --> 0:14:33.120 he invaded a section of uk Ukraine called Crimea, but 0:14:33.200 --> 0:14:36.800 then he stopped. He didn't go all the way into Ukraine. 0:14:36.800 --> 0:14:40.680 He didn't invade the entire country, didn't go into the capital, 0:14:40.760 --> 0:14:43.760 which you know, the capital. Everyone used to pronounce at Kiev, 0:14:44.440 --> 0:14:48.200 and now it's it's considered I guess more enlightened to 0:14:48.200 --> 0:14:51.040 pronounce it Kiev. So I have to refer to one 0:14:51.080 --> 0:14:54.240 of my favorite dinners as Chicken Kiev apparently, not chicken 0:14:54.320 --> 0:14:58.320 Kiev apparently. Whether it's one syllable or two, I will 0:14:58.400 --> 0:15:04.000 leave that to the linguists. But the reason he didn't 0:15:04.120 --> 0:15:09.280 march into all of Ukraine is right now, the principal 0:15:09.400 --> 0:15:13.280 route that Russia uses to get its natural gas to 0:15:13.360 --> 0:15:18.440 Europe is going through Ukraine. Is pipelines that go right 0:15:18.480 --> 0:15:20.840 through the middle of Ukraine, and Ukraine makes a bunch 0:15:20.840 --> 0:15:23.320 of money on these pipelines because it's how they send 0:15:23.360 --> 0:15:26.640 Russian gas to Europe to heat their homes, to provide 0:15:26.720 --> 0:15:31.560 energy for their homes and right so, Putin faced the 0:15:31.680 --> 0:15:35.680 risk if he if he sent tanks into the heart 0:15:35.680 --> 0:15:39.960 of Ukraine, if he invaded Kiev, that those pipelines could 0:15:39.960 --> 0:15:43.120 be destroyed, that they could lose their ability to get 0:15:43.160 --> 0:15:48.280 their gas to market, and it protected Ukraine's safety and security. 0:15:49.480 --> 0:15:52.120 So what did Putin do in response? Well, the very 0:15:52.160 --> 0:15:55.160 next year, twenty fifteen, is when he began building the 0:15:55.240 --> 0:15:58.840 Nordstream two pipeline. And basically what he said is, all right, 0:15:59.280 --> 0:16:01.160 I don't want to have to go through Ukraine to 0:16:01.200 --> 0:16:03.680 get my gas to Europe, so let's build a pipeline 0:16:03.720 --> 0:16:08.160 that goes underwater and goes directly from Russia to Germany. 0:16:08.200 --> 0:16:12.480 That cuts Ukraine out of the process, so then we 0:16:12.520 --> 0:16:14.520 can march into Ukraine and they can't do a damn 0:16:14.520 --> 0:16:19.160 thing about it. Well, he began building that pipeline. It 0:16:19.200 --> 0:16:22.920 took a lot of time. As we got to twenty nineteen, 0:16:24.400 --> 0:16:28.840 the pipeline was nearly complete. And I have been the 0:16:28.960 --> 0:16:33.200 leading voice, the leading actor in the Senate to stop 0:16:33.280 --> 0:16:38.800 this pipeline. Because this pipeline, if built, if online gives 0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:42.840 putin billions of dollars to attack Americans, attack our allies. 0:16:42.880 --> 0:16:45.920 I want putin week and I want him not aggressive 0:16:45.920 --> 0:16:50.760 and hostile. So in the summer of twenty nineteen, I 0:16:50.800 --> 0:16:57.520 introduce legislation in the Senate to sanction the companies that 0:16:57.560 --> 0:17:02.360 were building Nordstream two. It was bipartisan legislation. I got 0:17:02.360 --> 0:17:06.160 brought together Republicans, Democrats, passed it through the Senate Foreign 0:17:06.200 --> 0:17:09.320 Relations Committee, passed it through the entire Senate, passed it 0:17:09.359 --> 0:17:13.080 through the entire Congress, and President Trump signed it into law. 0:17:13.680 --> 0:17:17.840 Now here's something amazing, Michael. They were building the pipeline. 0:17:17.840 --> 0:17:20.520 They were actively rushing trying to complete the pipeline. It 0:17:20.520 --> 0:17:25.320 was about ninety percent complete when President Trump signed the 0:17:25.400 --> 0:17:30.760 sanctions into law. They stopped building the pipeline that day, 0:17:30.920 --> 0:17:33.000 not the next day, not a week later, not a 0:17:33.040 --> 0:17:36.360 month later. The day the sanctions were signed into law, 0:17:36.600 --> 0:17:38.919 and they were designed because they would have bankrupted any 0:17:38.960 --> 0:17:43.000 company that continued to build the pipeline. So what happens next. 0:17:43.680 --> 0:17:48.000 This is December of twenty nineteen. The pipeline lays dormant 0:17:48.760 --> 0:17:52.480 for over a year. By the way, one of the 0:17:52.520 --> 0:17:54.880 talking points today as well, it was ninety percent done. 0:17:54.880 --> 0:17:57.600 It was ninety percent done. Well, that's true, but a 0:17:57.720 --> 0:18:02.520 ninety percent done pipeline is zero percent done. It doesn't 0:18:02.560 --> 0:18:04.520 work till you connect both ends and turn it on, 0:18:05.560 --> 0:18:08.520 unless unless the oil is going to jump out and 0:18:08.600 --> 0:18:12.000 make it that last ten percent, then it's useless. Yep. 0:18:12.840 --> 0:18:17.000 So for over a year we had defeated this pipeline. 0:18:17.200 --> 0:18:21.959 We had won. It was a massive bipartisan victory over Russia. 0:18:22.000 --> 0:18:23.680 It was a victory for Europe, it was a victory 0:18:23.720 --> 0:18:27.240 for Ukraine, and it was a victory for America. Then 0:18:27.359 --> 0:18:32.080 Joe Biden comes to office and the Biden foreign policy team. 0:18:34.200 --> 0:18:39.320 Number one, their view towards bullies and enemies of America 0:18:39.720 --> 0:18:43.880 is weakness, is weakness towards the Taliban and Afghanistan, weakness 0:18:43.880 --> 0:18:48.720 towards the Chinese communist weakness towards Iran, and weakness towards Russia. 0:18:48.800 --> 0:18:54.240 But number two, they really elevate Germany in their foreign policy. 0:18:54.280 --> 0:18:56.960 And you know, I've joked that that the Biden foreign 0:18:56.960 --> 0:19:01.560 policy team has votive candle of Angela Merkel under their 0:19:01.560 --> 0:19:06.399 beds at night that they just they they worship Merkel 0:19:06.520 --> 0:19:13.200 for whatever reason. And Germany wants the pipeline. So Biden 0:19:13.359 --> 0:19:17.320 reversed course and surrendered on these sanctions. And here it's 0:19:17.320 --> 0:19:21.919 really quite amazing. The pipeline is stopped the day Trump 0:19:22.040 --> 0:19:27.720 signs the sanctions in December of twenty nineteen. Joe Biden 0:19:27.840 --> 0:19:31.800 is sworn into office January twentieth, twenty twenty one. Do 0:19:31.800 --> 0:19:35.639 you know what day Biden Putin begins building the pipeline again? 0:19:36.119 --> 0:19:40.760 What day? January twenty fourth, twenty twenty one, four days 0:19:40.800 --> 0:19:44.119 after Biden puts his hand on the Bible, Putin begins 0:19:44.119 --> 0:19:46.800 building the pipeline. What you've what you've drawn here that 0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:50.000 I did not appreciate before it. Obviously I understood there's 0:19:50.000 --> 0:19:52.800 some connection here between this pipeline and and what Russia 0:19:52.880 --> 0:19:56.040 is doing in Ukraine. But the pipeline is a symbol. 0:19:56.080 --> 0:20:01.320 It's a physical representation of the imperial ambition of Vladimir Putin. 0:20:01.720 --> 0:20:04.359 The Whole point of the pipeline, other than saving a 0:20:04.359 --> 0:20:07.880 little bit of money, I guess, is to free up 0:20:08.440 --> 0:20:12.480 Russia to go pursue whatever imperial ambitions it has in Ukraine. 0:20:12.560 --> 0:20:15.480 So you kill the pipeline, you kill or at least 0:20:15.520 --> 0:20:19.000 seriously dampen the imperial ambitions. And if you give the 0:20:19.080 --> 0:20:22.640 OK on the pipeline, you are tacitly giving the OK 0:20:23.080 --> 0:20:26.600 on Russia going into Ukraine. Michael, That's exactly right. And 0:20:26.640 --> 0:20:29.879 it's a point that I made repeatedly. It's a point 0:20:30.000 --> 0:20:34.920 that senators, both Republicans and Democrats made over and over 0:20:34.960 --> 0:20:37.840 and over again. It's also a point that was made 0:20:37.880 --> 0:20:41.640 by Ukraine in Poland. So this summer, when Biden formally 0:20:42.000 --> 0:20:45.760 surrendered to Putin and waived the sanctions that were part 0:20:45.800 --> 0:20:50.720 of US law, Ukraine and Poland put out a joint 0:20:50.800 --> 0:20:55.560 statement condemning that decision and saying giving into Nordstream two 0:20:57.720 --> 0:21:03.080 creates a grave security threat against Ukraine and Central Europe 0:21:03.160 --> 0:21:09.359 because once the pipeline is on, Putin can drive the 0:21:09.400 --> 0:21:12.639 tanks into Ukraine and not worry about whether they destroy 0:21:12.720 --> 0:21:15.240 their pipeline or not, because he has another way to 0:21:15.280 --> 0:21:19.040 get the gas to market. The amazing thing is, so 0:21:19.080 --> 0:21:21.119 where are we now on the pipeline. The pipeline is 0:21:21.119 --> 0:21:24.520 now complete. So Biden surrendered allowed Putin to complete it, 0:21:24.560 --> 0:21:27.199 but it's not on yet. And the reason it's not 0:21:27.280 --> 0:21:29.600 on is before it can be turned on, it has 0:21:29.680 --> 0:21:31.919 to go through certification. It has to go through the 0:21:31.960 --> 0:21:36.520 final regulatory approval in Europe before they can turn the 0:21:36.520 --> 0:21:40.440 pipeline on, which means Biden can stop this right now 0:21:41.400 --> 0:21:44.159 if he simply follows the law. So he has waived 0:21:44.200 --> 0:21:47.399 the sanctions, he could revoke the waiver. And so you know, 0:21:47.480 --> 0:21:50.400 earlier today we had testimony in front of the Senate 0:21:50.440 --> 0:21:53.480 Foreign Relations Committee from Victoria Newland, who is the under 0:21:53.520 --> 0:21:57.560 Secretary of State, and I asked her directly, could President 0:21:57.680 --> 0:22:02.280 Biden today in those sanctions on Nordstream two by simply 0:22:02.320 --> 0:22:05.880 revoking his waivers? She said, yes, he could do it today. 0:22:05.920 --> 0:22:10.120 If you want to stop Russian tanks from driving in 0:22:10.800 --> 0:22:14.320 into Ukraine and conquering them, Joe Biden needs to bring 0:22:14.320 --> 0:22:17.720 out a damn pen and piece of paper and impose 0:22:17.880 --> 0:22:21.280 the sanctions that Congress is mandated. But he didn't want 0:22:21.280 --> 0:22:24.720 to do it, and so Democrats are playing the blame game. 0:22:25.160 --> 0:22:28.600 It's amazing. You know, you asked why should we care 0:22:28.840 --> 0:22:32.520 about Ukraine? Listen, let me be clear. We shouldn't send 0:22:32.560 --> 0:22:36.160 American troops to go defend Ukraine. I have no interest 0:22:36.280 --> 0:22:39.640 in sending American soldiers or sailors or airmen and marines 0:22:40.000 --> 0:22:42.480 to be in harm's way to go fight the Russian army. 0:22:42.600 --> 0:22:47.200 That's a bad idea. But we've got enormous leverage. These 0:22:47.240 --> 0:22:54.440 sanctions are using American economic power to stop military tyrants 0:22:55.119 --> 0:22:58.920 from dominating Europe and threatening America, and we should use them. 0:22:58.920 --> 0:23:04.320 We should also be providing lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine. 0:23:04.400 --> 0:23:07.800 Ukraine wants to defend themselves, but Russia's got a lot 0:23:07.840 --> 0:23:14.920 better weaponry, a lot better equipment than Ukraine does. In Ukraine, 0:23:14.920 --> 0:23:19.520 I went and visited Ukraine back in twenty fourteen and 0:23:20.119 --> 0:23:24.080 went to the Maiden Square where where you had protesters 0:23:24.200 --> 0:23:27.080 were being shot in the square when they were standing up. 0:23:27.520 --> 0:23:31.360 And the people of Ukraine want to be allied with America. 0:23:31.400 --> 0:23:33.160 They want to be allied with the West, they want 0:23:33.160 --> 0:23:35.159 to be allied with Europe. They don't want to be 0:23:35.320 --> 0:23:40.280 subject to Putin and Russia's domination. And it's in our 0:23:40.359 --> 0:23:42.480 interest for them to be an ally and so, but 0:23:42.600 --> 0:23:46.199 you know what, Joe Biden and the Democrats canceled the 0:23:46.240 --> 0:23:51.440 sale of lethal defensive military equipment to Ukraine. So they're 0:23:51.480 --> 0:23:56.879 not even helping the Ukrainians defend themselves. And if Biden 0:23:57.000 --> 0:24:00.240 doesn't change course, I think it is the odds are 0:24:00.440 --> 0:24:05.760 high that within ninety days Russia will have in invaded 0:24:05.800 --> 0:24:10.840 and sadly in all likelihood conquered Ukraine and taken a 0:24:11.000 --> 0:24:15.959 major step towards reassembling the Soviet Union. Because Joe Biden 0:24:16.080 --> 0:24:20.200 is too weak to stand up to Putin. It is astounding. 0:24:20.480 --> 0:24:23.520 This is a scary prospect, obviously, but it's very important 0:24:23.520 --> 0:24:26.760 and people should bookmark this episode if you're listening to it, 0:24:26.760 --> 0:24:29.600 because what you're saying is right now, it's not too late. 0:24:29.880 --> 0:24:32.240 Joe Biden can't just say, well, whoopsie Daisy, there was 0:24:32.280 --> 0:24:34.360 nothing I could do. It is not too late. They're 0:24:34.359 --> 0:24:36.960 actually concrete measures you could take right now that could 0:24:37.000 --> 0:24:40.440 stop this, that could prevent this next step in Russia's 0:24:40.600 --> 0:24:43.359