White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain is warning that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is “far from over,” despite the claim by Moscow that they are retreating from Kyiv and surrounding areas.
“I think there’s a lot of evidence that Putin is simply taking his troops out of the northern part of the country to redeploy them to the eastern part of the country to relaunch a battle there,” Klain said during an exclusive interview with ABC “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos.
Klain said it’s “for Ukraine to decide” what a post-war country looks like when asked about the possibility that Russia overtakes eastern regions of Ukraine, while Ukraine maintains control of the rest.
“I will tell you, as President Zelenskyy has said, that’s not acceptable to him, and we are going to support him with military aid, with economic aid, with humanitarian aid,” Klain said. “The political future of Ukraine is up for Ukraine to decide.”
“Is Russia losing this war?” Stephanopoulos asked Klain.
“The Ukrainians are winning the war around Kyiv and in the northern part of the country. And that’s tremendous credit to the fighting they’ve done and to the support that the United States that our NATO allies have provided them. We send weapons into Ukraine almost every single day,” Klain responded, dodging the question. “And the Ukrainian military, the Ukrainian volunteers that are fighting this war have shown their bravery, their tenacity, again, backed up by the generosity of the U.S. and our allies.”
While the administration is focused on the crisis overseas, Klain also discussed domestic issues that were at the forefront this week, including inflation, combating rising gas prices and the CDC decision to lift the Title 42 policy at the southern border.
Effects of the war at home
President Joe Biden has blamed Russia for the rise in gas prices at the pump, labeling it the “Putin price hike,” though gas prices were skyrocketing before the holidays last year. However, it’s not just gas prices on the rise; food prices are also up because of inflation, and it’s reflected in Biden’s poll numbers.
“Gas prices are a problem, absolutely, George,” Klain acknowledged. “That’s why the president took the actions he took this week to release a million barrels a day from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to tell the oil companies they either need to pump oil on the 9,000 permits they have or give them back for others to do that, to increase production here. Those things we think are going to bring down the price of gasoline, relieve some of the pain at the pump. And we also have an agenda to cut taxes for people to bring down the cost of everyday things.”
A new Quinnipiac University poll shows that just 36% approve of the president overall, and only one in three Americans approve of how he’s handling the economy. Republicans are criticizing his economic policies with the midterm election just months away and are poised to exploit it as November gets closer. Stephanopoulos pressed Klain on how Democrats should respond.
“The Republicans have an agenda too. Sen. [Rick] Scott says their agenda is to raise taxes on millions of Americans, to get rid of social security and to do other things that are going to devastate middle class people,” Klain said. “So I think when people compare our agenda to the Republican agenda, that’s gonna be a clear choice for folks.”
When Stephanopoulos inquired about how anxious Klain is about the elections this fall, Klain said the administration has done “a great job,” but there is “work to do.”
“We have done a lot of work to bring the economy back from dead in the water when we got here. Virtually no jobs being created, businesses closed, schools closed,” Klain said, adding that there’s been a “tremendous amount of progress on getting the economy going again in 14 months but a lot of work left to be done.”
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday that 431,000 jobs were added to the economy in March, and the unemployment…
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