Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) called out President Joe Biden’s administration during a Sunday morning interview on ABC’s “This Week,” saying that the sanctions western nations had imposed on Russia thus far were “riddled with loopholes.”
Cotton spoke with anchor George Stephanopoulos about President Biden’s response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, arguing that the United States and other allies needed to step up with harsher sanctions immediately.
“Vladimir Putin controls 100% of the banks in Russia. He can use the other 20% to finance his war machine. It’s time to remove all Russian institutions from the international payment system. It’s time to impose sanctions on oil and gas exports. We need to rush those weapons that were announced for delivery yesterday to the front. Anti-tank, anti-aircraft missiles, sniper rifles, ammunition. It should have been done weeks ago,” Cotton said. “It’s time for the president to quit pussy-footing around. The financial sanctions are riddled with loopholes.”
Stephanopoulos pointed to the news that Putin had raised the threat status of his nuclear deterrent forces, and asked Cotton whether he believed others were right to question Putin’s mental state.
“I’m not going to play psychologist. What Vladimir Putin said is not a surprise,” Cotton replied, saying that Putin had been signaling his intent to make such a move for months, if not longer.