Secretary of State Marco Rubio acquired right into a testy change with a congressman on Wednesday after he repeatedly refused to straight name Russian President Vladimir Putin a warfare legal.
It occurred throughout a House listening to when Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Bill Keating requested Rubio about Putin’s involvement in warfare crimes in opposition to Ukraine.
The listening to comes at a time when the Trump administration is making an attempt to dealer a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine ― regardless of failing to get Putin to make any transfer that will result in that consequence.
Things acquired testy after Keating straight requested the secretary of state, “The person we’re negotiating with, Vladimir Putin, is he a war criminal?”
Rubio tried to reply the query with out truly answering the query.
“Well, I think you can look at instances that have happened there and certainly characterize them as war crimes, but our intent is to end the war,” Rubio stated.
Keating repeated the query.
“Is he a war criminal?”
Rubio evaded the yes-or-no reply Keating was searching for, saying, “We can’t end the war without talking to Mr. Putin.”
Keating, getting pissed off on the lack of a direct response, tried as soon as once more.
“Is he a war criminal?” he requested.
Rubio claimed he “was trying to answer your question by telling you that we’re trying to end the war here.”
Keating exclaimed, “You are equivocating, sir, just answer the question!”
“I’m answering your question, and the answer is that war crimes have been committed, no doubt,” Rubio responded in as passive a tone as doable to (probably) keep away from placing Putin right into a tizzy. “And who is responsible for that? There will be a time and place for that accountability. But right now, the job is to end the war.”
“So you won’t answer the question,” Keating stated.
Here’s a clip of the change:
Many individuals weren’t impressed by Rubio’s unwillingness to assault Putin, contemplating he went after Trump’s then-Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson in 2017 for being reluctant to name Putin a warfare legal.
In truth, the Republicans Against Trump account on X posted a video of that authentic change.
“It should not be hard to say that Vladimir Putin’s military has conducted war crimes in Aleppo,” the then-Florida senator chastised Tillerson.
Other individuals additionally weren’t impressed with Rubio’s namby-pamby equivocating, and supplied proof suggesting that the “war criminal” tag has advantage.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/marco-rubio-wont-label-putin-war-criminal-in-testy-exchange_n_682e09aae4b031fc2ccddfd0