Ahead of a likely Russian invasion of Ukraine, State Department spokesman Ned Price and White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki spent Wednesday afternoon under fire from establishment media reporters and, of course, Fox’s Peter Doocy over the administration’s flip-flop on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, the failure to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the impact the war could have on the U.S. economy.
The first was Price, and then the Associated Press’s Matt Lee, the persistent and tough Matt Lee, reported that Germany had suspended Nord Stream 2 (Russian) and that the U.S. would sanction it. This after having previously opposed the move for a full year.
Lee bluntly asked:
[Y]ou guys have been saying…for over a year since the waivers were — were first granted that, in fact, this gave you additional leverage, withholding the sanctions did and would serve as a deterrent. It did not…provide any leverage…cause…the invasion began…[H]ow do you explain to people why you didn’t impose these — these sanctions earlier?
Price insisted “let’s rewind the tape” to first praising actions taking by Germany and the U.S. for their “trans-Atlantic unity” in action. Of course, Lee didn’t bite.
“I don’t understand why you don’t think you would have had more leverage if it hadn’t been — if these sanctions had been imposed before the pipeline was finished,” Lee said that some of the work had been completed before Biden came, which Price echoed. The pipeline might not have gone live because of the sanctions.
Lee later returnedRejecting the idea that sanctions are deterrents “I thought we just spent, like, the last couple of months…arguing that the threat of sanctions was the deterrent and that…if you actually imposed them, then you would lose that deterrence…[Y]ou can’t have it both ways.”
Doocy Time started with the Fox reporter picking it up. On Tuesday, he asked his questionsGas prices “[A]Much attention is given to the Russian economic crisis. But what about our economic problems here? Russians claim that gas prices will double in Europe, according to Russians. How high could they get here.”
Psaki argued the pain Americans feel will, in part, be based upon “what President Putin does” even though Biden will “tak[e]Each step [he]Can…to reduce the impact[.]”
Doocy kept pressing for an amount before pivoting to how she’s framed Putin’s psyche and if the sanctions have led to “any Russian military units turn[ing] around” (click “expand”):
DOOCY: Even without these things, gasoline in California costs almost $5 per gallon. People across America should expect that number to be displayed when filling up the car. $5? $6?
PSAKI – Well, as the President stated last week in Washington, standing up to our values does not come without costs. Our goal is to minimize costs. It’s impossible to predict the future, but we do want to limit the negative impact on international energy markets.
DOOCY: Okay. Something that you said — two different things that you’ve said so far today. You said you think right now, Putin is improvising and adapting, but you’ve also said that you very much anticipate and predict that he’s going to invade further. What do you think? Are they adapting, or are they still invading the territory?
PSAKI – Think big, Peter. We have already said that he could be invading, and we will continue to say so. However, his strategies can change depending on when, where, or how he does it. That what we’re seeing. Both can be true.
DOOCY – If you see that, please announce the sanctions yesterday.
PSAKI: Yeah.
DOOCY: Have any Russian military units turned around and headed back to Russia?
PSAKI: Again, I’m not going to get into assessments from here of movements of any military, but also what we’re trying to do is prevent a war, prevent devastation on the Ukrainian people. Already, we are seeing the effects on Russia’s economic situation. We’re going to continue to make clear that are much — that is — if he continues to escalate, we will as well.
Chris Megerian is the new AP journalist. pressed on what steps the administration has taken “to prepare Americans for” the “increase[d] costs”Living and whether there is a complete Russian invasion would be proof that their “strategy” of threatening sanctions has “failed.”
On the former, Psaki insisted Americans being squeezed economically is something that’s “very personal to” Biden and, on the latter, she offered a word salad about how they’re going beyond what they did to Russia in 2014 and do indeed plan to continue their course of action on sanction threats. Thankfully, USA Today’s Joey Garrison tried again on that point later (though to no avail).
Meanwhile, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins grilled PsakiThe idea of an invasion imminent has hovered for some time as well as Biden’s past opposition to sanctioning those behind Nord Stream 2 (click “expand”):
COLLINS – Does the White House agree with today’s Australian prime minister that an attack within 24 hours is possible?
PSAKI: I’m not going to give an additional timeline to it. They have said it can happen anytime, and have been under attack for some time. However, I won’t give an extra day, hour or moment.
COLLINS : However, to continue the conversation, you’ve been claiming it’s coming for quite some time. You guys stopped for a little bit —
PSAKI: Yeah.
COLLINS: — for a little bit then you went back to it. Is there a warning for the Ukrainians that has been issued in the past 24 hours? CNN, among others, reports that they received new intelligence on the possibility of an attack.
PSAKI – We are not sure what it is based upon. The Ukrainians have been in constant contact with us. They are capable of operating at all times, we have communicated that to them. This has always been true. I would note that obviously our preference would be that President Putin doesn’t further invade and, as I said a few minutes ago, we’re assessing that he has had to adjust, adapt to the strength of the unity of the global community to what our reaction has been and he has been forced to — need to respond and adapt his own actions. We’ll be watching. He will still invade. We are optimistic. But, again, we’re also seeing an impact on how he’s behaving.
COLLINS: Last month, Nord Stream 2 was blocked by the WH. The sanctions were lifted by President Biden last year. He is now imposing sanctions against it. This is quite a big change. So, can you just explain the changes and where you —
PSAKI (Political Science Institute): We don’t view it as any kind of shift. The pipeline has never been supported by us. The President signed it into 90 percent when he took office. The pipeline has been opposed by us since its inception. The question was what was the most effective step in order to — to have the result that we have now over the last 24 hours and there were calls by some in Congress to do pre-emptive sanctions on — or earlier sanctions — or take earlier steps, I should say, on Nord Stream 2. This strategy wasn’t supported by us. With the Germans, we worked out a diplomatic solution. Yesterday, you saw the German chancellor announce the news and today’s announcement was also complimentary.
A few journalists later, The New York Times’s Zolan Kanno-Youngs gave it a go on Nord Stream 2, but was similarly spun by Psaki.
Click here to see transcripts of the briefings on February 23, click here for State Department, and here for White House. To see a few questions asked at the Pentagon briefing (including two from Fox’s Jennifer Griffin), click here.
About Post Author
