ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith on “The Stephen A. Smith Show” Monday said Democratic presidents held more responsibility for the circumstances that led to the Russia-Ukraine war than President Donald Trump.
Russia launched its war against Ukraine in February 2022 under former President Joe Biden’s administration and Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 during former President Barack Obama’s tenure. Smith highlighted these facts on his show, along with the 1994 Budapest Memorandum signed by former President Bill Clinton, as factors contributing to the current conflict.
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“[W]e ain’t gon’ act like [Trump] caused this now. It’s Democrats in office. It was Biden in office when a full-fledged war against Ukraine took place — courtesy of Russia’s instigation — no matter what they try to say to Trump,” Smith said. “It was Russia that invaded Crimea — and that was under the Obama administration! It was Clinton in office when you made a deal that disarmed the Ukraine — and therefore weakened them — leaving them dependent on the United States!”
Under the memorandum, Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons in exchange for security guarantees from the U.S., United Kingdom and Russia.
“And now here they are having to beg for support that they’re owed because of what we promised them as a nation! We promised them this! You owe it to the Ukraine, Ukrainians,” Smith continued. “You absolutely do. I’m not saying I like it. I’m not saying I like spending billions of our taxpayer dollars to them. That’s not what I’m saying. What I’m saying is promises made are supposed to be promises kept. You promised them, America!”
Russian President Vladimir Putin also asserted Friday during a joint press conference with the U.S. president in Alaska that the war could have been avoided if Trump had been in office.
“I would like to remind you that in 2022, during the last contact with the previous administration, I tried to convince my previous American colleague that the situation should not be brought to the point of no return when it would come to hostilities,” Putin said. “I said it quite directly back then, that it’s a big mistake.”
“Today, when President Trump is saying that if he was the President back then, there would be no war, and I’m quite sure that it would indeed be so,” he added. “I can confirm that.”
In the lead-up to the conflict, Biden levied a series of sanctions against two Russian banks and Russian debt. He also signed an executive order barring U.S. individuals from new investment, trade or financing in “the so-called DNR and LNR regions of Ukraine.”
Biden’s moves followed Putin recognizing two separatist-controlled Ukrainian territories.
Moreover, a day before Russia officially struck Kyiv, Biden announced that he would enable economic sanctions to be reimposed on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, pledging to “take further steps if Russia continues to escalate.”
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