Kevin McCarthy: The Ukrainians are fighting tanks with sticks

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Putin wants to put the motherland back together: Kevin McCarthy

House minority leader gives his take on how the U.S. should respond to the Russia-Ukraine conflict on 'Jesse Watters Primetime.'

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy weighed in on Russia's invasion of Ukraine on "Jesse Watters Primetime" Friday.

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY: The real challenge here, five years ago, I was sitting in the White House in the Situation Room with Joe Biden as vice president, trying to talk them into sending the Stingers to Ukraine because I just came back from a trip there … Train them and let them defend themselves … That was in the last years of their administration, and you know what else? Months ago, when the president was talking about standing up to Putin, I was on the phone when I said, "Let them have weapons now so they can defend themselves," but he wanted to wait until Russia had invaded. What benefit is that? It's too late in the process … and then he has a press conference and says, "Well, if Putin just takes a little bit of the country." … He gave Putin all the missed signals and missed reading of it, and if you watch Putin, remember this, this is the 100th anniversary of the creation of the Soviet Union. Putin wants to put the motherland back together. He's like a mafia boss. He's evil, right? And in that he wants to put his lieutenants in charge, but you're pushing them back against the wall. If we had deterred him beforehand, we have seen time and again the bravery of those in Ukraine that will defend and fight themselves. The problem is, they're fighting tanks with sticks … but if he learned today what we should do for the future, let Taiwan speed up the weapons for Taiwan to defend themselves as well … but what is he talking about? He's working with China and Russia to bring Iran back into the world economy, give them billions of dollars and give them a nuclear weapon. 

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