Source: United States Senator for Ohio Rob Portman
February 27, 2022 | Portman Difference
This morning on Meet The Press, Senator Portman, co-chair of the Senate Ukraine Caucus, discussed the latest developments regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and stressed the need for additional, tougher sanctions on the Russian government and economy. Portman noted that he believes Ukraine should have been invited to join NATO in recent years and that the alliance should now look to add other democratic countries in the region, such as Georgia and Finland. In addition, Portman touted the unified support for the Ukrainian people, both in America and across the world. Portman will participate in a prayer vigil and rally in Parma, Ohio later today to express his solidarity with Ukraine.
Portman also discussed the nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, promising to consider her record and look at her qualifications before any senate confirmation vote.
A transcript of his remarks can be found below and a video can be found here.
PORTMAN ON THE SITUATION IN UKRAINE AND NEWLY ANNOUNCED PEACE NEGOTIATIONS:
“I think Ukrainians know how to do it, and they also know to be distrustful of whatever the Russians say, since everything that Vladimir Putin has said, and other Russian officials, has been propaganda disinformation. So they need to be careful. And by the way, Belarus is where the Russians wanted to have the meeting. Belarus is now under control of Russia, and Belarus is aiding and abetting the Russian’s attack on their neighbor Ukraine. So it’s outrageous.
“Let me say, Chuck, at the outset, our hearts go out to the Ukrainian people today. This is something where the American people are standing firmly with Ukraine. There are over 40 rallies around the country today in support of Ukraine. I’ll be at one in Cleveland, Ohio, this afternoon. But around the world, you see this, including in Russia. The world is standing up in ways that, frankly, I haven’t seen this kind of unity since 9/11. And I think that is something that will, in the end, be very helpful. But we’ve got to provide more military assistance. We’ve got to tighten up these sanctions further. By the way, in your conversation with the ambassador, you talked about how sanctions did not deter, that’s because tough sanctions were not put in place. So we could have and should have done more. And many of us were calling for that. But we are where we are now, so we need to continue to tighten it up, including putting all Russian banks under this SWIFT ban.”
PORTMAN ON IF WE SHOULD BRING UKRAINE INTO NATO:
“Yes. And I think that’s a very important point to make. Even now, Chuck, we should be allowing Ukraine and by the way, allowing other countries that may want to come forward. Georgia is one and I’m told that Finland and Sweden may be two others at some point, we should allow them to come into NATO. There’s a process called the MAP process, which is basically a roadmap to get into NATO. Many of us have been calling for NATO to allow Ukraine to go down that path. We should have done it. If we had done it, I don’t think that we would be in the situation we’re in now. And I think other people said the opposite. They said, well, if we allow them into NATO, this will make Russia mad. Well, you know what? Here they are with this atrocity in Ukraine, killing already hundreds of Ukrainians, wounding thousands of them, unprecedented since World War II to have one country invade another country’s borders. And if NATO were there, I don’t think he’d be doing it, assuming that NATO would respond, which I’m seeing. I agree with what Mark just said is that Putin miscalculated. He thought this would divide NATO. In fact, it has strengthened NATO and brought us together in ways we haven’t seen in years.”
PORTMAN ON THE NOMINATION OF KETANJI BROWN JACKSON TO THE SUPREME COURT:
“Well, I’m going to look at her record and look at her qualifications, as I think people will in this case. I don’t think, Chuck, it will be as partisan as we’ve seen in the past as we did as an example with Judge Kavanaugh when he was nominated. As you know, she’ll be replacing another Liberal on the court and Democrats have 50 votes and plus one with the Vice President they have the ability to confirm. But I think the rest of us on the Republican side are going to be looking at her record, looking at her qualifications. We don’t believe you had to legislate from the bench. We think the Supreme Court focus ought to be on protecting our rights and following the Constitution and that’s what we’re looking for.”
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