参议员汤姆·科顿。美国拒绝谴责前总统唐纳德·特朗普在俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京入侵乌克兰期间对他的赞扬。
“乔治，如果你想知道唐纳德·川普对弗拉基米尔·普京或其他任何话题的看法，我鼓励你邀请他参加你的节目，”科顿周日告诉美国广播公司“本周”主播乔治·斯特凡诺普洛斯。“我不代表其他政客说话。他们可以为自己说话。”
特朗普周二在接受保守派电台节目“克莱·特拉维斯和巴克·塞克斯顿秀”采访时，称俄罗斯总统的行动是“天才”和“精明的”。周六晚上，在保守派政治行动会议上，特朗普最终谴责了入侵，但也表示，“问题不在于普京是否聪明，当然他很聪明。但真正的问题是，我们的领导人都是哑巴。”
斯特凡诺普洛斯敦促科顿谴责这些言论，他指出科顿一直坚定地反对普京。
“你是共和党的资深成员。唐纳德·特朗普是共和党的领袖，”他说，并指出特朗普周六晚上“暗示”他将再次竞选总统。"当福克斯新闻频道问他是否有口信给弗拉基米尔·普京时，他说他没有口信."
“你为什么不能谴责这一点?我很有信心，如果唐纳德——如果巴拉克·奥巴马或乔·拜登说了类似的话，你会第一个站出来批评他们，”斯特凡诺普洛斯说。
参议院情报和军事委员会成员科顿加倍下注。
“再说一遍，乔治，如果你想和前总统谈谈他的观点或信息，你可以让他上你的节目，”科顿说。“我给弗拉基米尔·普京的信息非常明确:他需要离开乌克兰，除非他想在未来几年面对拿着燃烧瓶的母亲和青少年，拿着AK-47的祖母和祖父。”
斯特凡诺普洛斯再次跟进。
“我只是不明白为什么你不能谴责他对弗拉基米尔·普京的赞美，”他说。
“乔治，再说一次，我不代表其他政客说话，他们可以代表他们自己说话，”科顿回答，再次回避斯特凡诺普洛斯的问题。“我要向你们传达我的信息，我已经说得很清楚了，无论巴拉克·奥巴马(Barack Obama)是总统，唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)是总统，现在无论乔·拜登(Joe Biden)是总统，弗拉基米尔·普京多年来一直是一个无情的独裁者。太多人没有认真对待这一威胁。这就是为什么你会看到我们现在在乌克兰看到的图像。我们需要关注的是阻止侵略，尽我们所能支持乌克兰人。”
乌克兰驻美国大使奥克萨娜·马尔卡罗娃(Oksana Markarova)在早些时候接受《本周》(This Week)采访时呼吁美国企业停止支持俄罗斯在国内外的企业。
科顿同意大使的观点，鼓励“每一家美国公司停止所有业务，不向弗拉基米尔·普京政权提供任何支持”，同时俄国继续进行“无端的侵略战争”
“但是我们能做的不仅仅是祈祷、标签和点亮建筑物，乔治。现在是总统和我们的一些欧洲伙伴停止畏首畏尾的时候了，”科顿后来补充道。"昨晚宣布的金融制裁漏洞百出。"
美国和其他西方国家周六宣布，他们将大幅升级对俄罗斯金融体系的限制。美国及其盟友已经对俄罗斯主要银行、俄罗斯精英成员和普京实施了制裁。美国和其他国家也加大了对乌克兰的军事援助。然而，这些国家还没有对俄罗斯的石油和天然气行业实施严厉的制裁，而这正是科顿一直倡导的。俄罗斯提供了欧洲超过三分之一的天然气。
普京周日宣布，他已下令军队将俄罗斯核威慑力量置于高度戒备状态，以回应他所称的来自北约国家的“挑衅性声明”。
“是时候将所有俄罗斯金融机构从国际支付体系中移除了。现在是对他的石油和天然气出口实施制裁的时候了，他把石油和天然气出口作为他的主要经济支持手段，”科顿说。“我们需要尽快将昨天宣布交付的武器运送到前线:反坦克、防空导弹、狙击步枪弹药、燃料供应，这应该在几周前就完成，所以晚做总比不做好，但乌克兰人没有时间。”
GOP Sen. Tom Cotton won't condemn Trump's praise of Putin
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., has refused to condemn former President Donald Trump's praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin amid his invasion of Ukraine.
"George, if you want to know what Donald Trump thinks about Vladimir Putin or any other topic, I'd encourage you to invite him on your show," Cotton told ABC "This Week" anchor George Stephanopoulos on Sunday. "I don't speak on behalf of other politicians. They can speak for themselves."
Trump called the actions of the Russian president "genius" and "savvy" during an interview with the conservative radio program "The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show" on Tuesday. And on Saturday night at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Trump finally condemned the invasion but also said, "The problem is not that Putin is smart, which of course he’s smart. But the real problem is that our leaders are dumb."
Stephanopoulos pressed Cotton, who he noted has been steadfast in his opposition to Putin, to condemn the comments.
"You're a senior member of the Republican Party. Donald Trump is the leader of the Republican Party," he said, noting that Trump "suggested" Saturday night he would run for president again. "When Fox News asked him if he had a message for Vladimir Putin, he said he has no message."
"Why can't you condemn that? I feel quite confident that if Donald -- that if Barack Obama or Joe Biden said something like that, you'd be first in line to criticize them," Stephanopoulos said.
Cotton, who sits on the Senate Intelligence and Armed Services committees, doubled down.
"Again, George, if you want to talk to the former president about his views or his message, you can have him on your show," Cotton said. "My message to Vladimir Putin is quite clear: He needs to leave Ukraine unless he wants to face moms and teenagers with Molotov cocktails and grandmothers and grandfathers with AK-47s for years to come."
Stephanopoulos followed up again.
"I simply don't understand why you can't condemn his praise of Vladimir Putin," he said.
"George, again, I don't speak on behalf of other politicians, they can all speak for themselves," Cotton responded, again dodging Stephanopoulos' question. "I'm delivering my message to you, which I said has been clear, whether Barack Obama was president, whether Donald Trump was president, and now whether Joe Biden was president, that Vladimir Putin has been a ruthless dictator for years. Too many people have not taken the threat seriously. And that's why you see the images we see in Ukraine now. And where we need to focus is on stopping that aggression, supporting the Ukrainians as best we can."
In an earlier interview on "This Week," Oksana Markarova, the Ukrainian ambassador to the U.S., pleaded for American businesses to stop backing Russian-owned enterprises both at home and abroad.
Cotton agreed with the ambassador, encouraging "every American company to scrub all of their operations to provide no support whatsoever to Vladimir Putin's regime" while Russia continues carrying out an "unprovoked war of aggression."
"But we can do more than prayers and hashtags and lighting up buildings, George. It's time for the president and some of our European partners to quit pussyfooting around," Cotton later added. "The financial sanctions announced last night are riddled with loopholes."
The United States and other Western nations announced Saturday they would significantly escalate restrictions against Russia's financial system. Sanctions against major Russian banks, members of the Russian elite and Putin had already been imposed by the United States and its allies. The U.S. and other nations have also stepped up military aid to Ukraine. The countries, however, have yet to launch crippling sanctions against Russia's oil and gas industry, which Cotton has been advocating for. Russia provides more than a third of Europe's natural gas.
Putin announced Sunday he had ordered his military to put Russia's nuclear deterrent forces in a state of heightened readiness in response to what he called "aggressive statements" from NATO countries.
"It's time to remove all Russian financial institutions from the international payment system. It's time to impose sanctions on his oil and gas exports which he uses as his primary means of financial support," Cotton said. "We need to rush those weapons that were announced for delivery yesterday to the front: anti-tank, anti-aircraft missiles, sniper rifles ammunition, fuel supplies, it should have been done weeks ago so better later than never but the Ukrainians have no time."
