Biden has made an ‘enormous mistake,’ handed Putin financial power: Larry Kudlow

During an interview on "Fox & Friends Weekend" Sunday, FOX Business host Larry Kudlow weighed in on the Russian invasion in Ukraine, asserting that President Biden has made an "enormous mistake" by making the United States energy-dependent. 

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LARRY KUDLOW: John McCain put it very well, it was one of his finest moments, he was a friend of mine. He said Russia's an old gas station masquerading as a country. All they do is oil and gas. That's it. They have some raw materials, too, so the way to get at them is to open the spigots wide. OK, drill, drill, drill. Pipeline, pipeline, pipeline. Get the world oil price down. This is where Biden has made an enormous mistake and has handed Putin, you know, on a silver platter, a lot of financial power. I'll give you a little bit of history real fast. When oil prices got to $150 a barrel in 2008, Putin took Georgia OK, then oil prices simmer down. Then oil prices in 2014 got back to $100 a barrel. Putin took Crimea. Then, with the fracking revolution, which started under Obama, even though he opposed it and then continued under Trump with energy independence. Oil prices were low, you know, 25, 40, 45, maybe $50. You never heard from Putin. The past year, oil prices have jumped from $50 to $100. Putin made about 85 billion in profits from that, and he's using that money to finance his war on Ukraine. 

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So the moral of the story is: open the spigots. Biden is doing exactly the reverse. At his press conference Thursday, Biden attacked the oil and gas companies, "don't take advantage of it." Jennifer Granholm right now, the energy secretary has a hold on six LNG export projects she won't put it through. The Interior Department has stopped all new federal leasing for new projects, whether it's oil and gas or LNG exports. They are doing everything to help Putin rather than to hurt him. So, I'm for sanctions. You know, and we need to go further on that. We need to sanction the central bank. We need to sanction all the commercial banks that will hurt a lot, but ultimately pour it on. We could produce 15 million barrels a day. We're only at 11 and a half now. You do that. Gasoline prices come down the world crude price comes down. Putin loses money. So like Ukraine, he's stuck in Ukraine has cost him a lot more money than he thought. That's the way to go after him. Reinstate the Keystone Pipeline. Reinstate the drilling in Alaska. So simple. All the above, the energy policy- I'm not against renewables. I'm saying, don't close down our principal source because we're handing Putin profits and he uses those profits to exercise, you know, his whatever demonic…he wants to break up NATO, take the U.S. and just drill, drill, drill.

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