ICYMI: Rubio Joins Jesse Watters Primetime

Interview

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) joined Jesse Watters Primetime to discuss the latest on Russia and Ukraine. See below for excerpts and watch the full interview here.

On the possibility of a land war in Ukraine:

"I don't think that with NATO there and the U.S. there that [Putin] is going to move on these Baltic states, which are probably the most vulnerable. That is probably too much to chew...at this time.

"I don't have a problem with some level of ramp-up, but we can't lose our focus on China. NATO, with some contribution from us, can prevent this from going any further. We really need to remain focused on China.

"This is an important thing, because…China is watching this. If we live in a world where a country can decide "Hey, that land belongs to us,' and give you a two-hour history lesson, which is a bunch of nonsense, and then go in and take it, you are going to see that happen in other places."

On America's energy vulnerabilities:

"We have waged a war under the Biden Administration against oil and natural gas in the United States. We stopped producing it, we have cracked down on it, we aren't going to [acquire] more of it. And so what's happened is, it has made Russian oil and natural gas more valuable, it's given Putin more leverage, and it's actually left Europe, us, and the rest of the world more vulnerable.

"One of the most important sanctions we could impose right now would be [for] Joe Biden [to] go on TV and say, "I am lifting all of these silly Green New Deal restrictions, and we are going to begin to produce oil and gas, so that thugs like Vladimir Putin don't get to hold entire continents hostage.'"

On the possibility of escalation of between the U.S. and Russia:

"Inflation is already out of control. Everything already costs too much. [The price of] gas is already high. It is not because of Ukraine. Ukraine is happening now, [but] it's already been high [since] two or three weeks ago.

"It will get higher. And the reason it will get higher is because Russia has less competition from America in the global marketplace. You should expect higher energy prices because that invasion, in combination with us cutting back on production, has put us at that point.

"As far as cyber is concerned, we are vulnerable. [Putin] is going to try to hit us there. We are probably going to hit him back. Cyber is a very dangerous thing. We have never had a cyber war. There [are] no rules around it. It could rapidly escalate into something very serious, and that's a factor in place.

"But we should help the people of Ukraine fight [Putin]. They want to fight him. They are not asking us to go in and fight. [Ukraine] wants to become a porcupine; let [Russia] try and swallow that porcupine. Invading is the easy part, unfortunately. Occupying a country of people that don't want you there and are willing to fight ---- and Ukrainians will fight ---- that's more painful.

"We need to learn lessons from this. And that is, we are too dependent on China for our supply chain, we're too dependent on Russia and the rest of the world for our energy. We need to be able to make more things in this country and produce more of our energy, or we could be held hostage the way [Putin] is going to hold Europe hostage."

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