Haley says DeSantis is ‘weak in the knees on Russia’

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (FLV) – Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley slammed Gov. Ron DeSantis for getting “weak in the knees on Russia.”

DeSantis’ previous description of the Ukraine-Russia conflict as a “territorial dispute” drew ire from members of both parties, including Haley, but the governor said those remarks were “mischaracterized.“

“DeSantis is completely wrong on this,” Haley said. “This is not the time to get weak in the knees on Russia, which is what he’s doing. This is the time to understand that the reason that Russia is trying to get our drones is because we’ve had weakness.”

“The reason is because they hear this conversation. It’s that same mentality that got us into the situation that we’re in with China,” she said.

Some falsely claimed the governor was downplaying the severeness of Putin’s actions.

“Well, I think it’s been mischaracterized. Obviously, Russia invaded — that was wrong. They invaded Crimea and took that in 2014 — That was wrong,” DeSantis said.

“So, that’s some difficult fighting and that’s what I was referring to and so it wasn’t that I thought Russia had a right to that, and so if I should have made that more clear, I could have done it, but I think the larger point is, okay, Russia is not showing the ability to take over Ukraine, to topple the government or certainly to threaten NATO,” he said. “That’s a good thing.”

“I just don’t think that’s a sufficient interest for us to escalate more involvement. I would not want to see American troops involved there. But the idea that I think somehow Russia was justified (in invading) – that’s nonsense,” he said.

Piers Morgan told DeSantis that Ukraine would take issue with the “territorial dispute” comments.

“I think they have the right to that territory,” DeSantis said. “If I could snap my fingers, I’d give it back to Ukraine 100%.”

“But the reality is what is America’s involvement in terms of escalating with more weapons, and certainly ground troops I think would be a mistake,” he said. “So, that was the point I was trying to make but Russia was wrong to invade. They were wrong to take Crimea. Russia did not have the right to go into Crimea or to go in February of 2022 and that should be clear.”

DeSantis said the U.S. should “hit [Putin]” with energy independence.

“We could be permitting natural gas pipelines, doing a lot in Alaska. That’s where he gets all his power and obviously, he’s influenced Europe by having so much energy. So, the way to hit Putin is to hit him with energy, but I do think if you look back, all the defense analysts, and me in the past, we over-estimated his conventional capability,” the governor said.

“This has been a huge blunder for him. Huge cost and you know we’ll see what ends up happening with his longevity in power, but this has been a loss for them.”

On holding Putin “accountable” for war crimes, DeSantis pushed back on using the International Crime Court.

“This ICC … we have not done that in the US because we’re concerned about our soldiers or people being brought under it. So, I don’t know about that route, but I do think that he should be held accountable,” DeSantis said.