On Saturday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Cavuto Live,” House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) said that President Joe Biden didn’t lift sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, he just chose not to impose the more serious sanctions on the pipeline, and that doing so did not encourage Vladimir Putin’s recent aggression.
Host David Asman asked, [relevant remarks begin around 1:55] “Now, do you think that President Biden’s elimination or lifting of the sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 pipeline had anything to do with emboldening Putin to go ahead with this?”
Smith responded, “I don’t. I mean, Putin’s design here is not just to build a pipeline. I think we need to be very, very clear, Putin wants to reconstitute the Soviet empire.”
He later added, “First of all, we did not lift the sanctions on Nord Stream 2. Those sanctions were not put in place. The Biden administration, per the law, had the option of deciding whether or not to impose them and he decided not to impose the more serious of those sanctions. So, they weren’t lifted.”
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