CBS' Brennan calls out Biden's mixed messaging after claiming sanctions were not intended to deter Russia

close

Video

Biden announces new sanctions on Russia following Ukraine invasion

President Biden delivers remarks on the developing crisis as Russia invades Ukraine. Biden announced new sanctions and limitations on what can be exported to Russia.

CBS News "Face the Nation" host and chief foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Brennan took President Biden to task on Thursday for insisting that the U.S.-imposed sanctions were not intended to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin from invading Ukraine, despite members of his foreign policy team insisting as much earlier this week. 

Brennan highlighted the conflicting statements in a "CBS Special Report" moments after Biden revealed that the U.S. plans to impose additional sanctions in response to Russia's multi-front war on Ukraine.

President Biden listens to questions from reporters while speaking about the Russian invasion of Ukraine in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

When ABC White House Correspondent Cecilia Vega noted that sanctions "clearly have not been enough to deter Vladimir Putin to this point," Biden retorted, "No one expected the sanctions to prevent anything from happening."

CBS BRENNAN SAYS RUSSIA-UKRAINE CONFLICT IS ‘PERSONAL’ FOR BIDEN

"It's going to take time, and we have to show resolve," Biden added. "So, he [Putin] knows what is coming. And so the people of Russia know what he's brought on them."

Brennan said she found the exchange "so interesting," considering that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and several other administration officials repeatedly touted the sanctions as an effective deterrence by the United States against Russian aggression.

"I thought that was so interesting when President Biden said, 'No one expected sanctions to prevent anything.' Actually, that's exactly what his foreign policy team said again and again, and it's what his secretary of state said to me on Sunday," Brennan said.

RUSSIA INVADES UKRAINE: CLICK HERE FOR LIVE UPDATES

Blinken argued on CBS' "Face The Nation" over the weekend that "the purpose is to do everything we can to deter it, to prevent a war…," adding that "once you trigger sanctions you lose the deterrent effect."

"Vladimir Putin was not deterred," Brennan said Thursday. "Sanctions are punitive. They are punishment. They haven't prevented. That is always the criticism of them as a foreign policy tool."

Online critics also called out the administration for the mixed messaging, noting that Vice President Kamala Harris and National Security adviser Jake Sullivan were among the Biden officials who referred to the sanctions as a form of "deterrence."

"BIDEN, TODAY: "No one expected the sanctions to prevent anything from happening."  HARRIS, SUNDAY: "The purpose of the sanctions has always been and continues to be deterrence," the GOP official Twitter account wrote.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

New York Times White House correspondent Michael Shear noted that the administration is issuing messages that are "basically the opposite of each other."

"On Feb. 11, Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, said that "the President believes that sanctions are intended to deter." Today,@potus told us: "No one expected the sanctions to prevent anything from happening," Shear tweeted. "Those are basically the opposite of each other."