Former Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard said Thursday that the “failure of leadership” from the Biden administration and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allowed for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“They’re [Ukrainian people] angry at Russia, they’re angry at America and they’re angry at the failure of leadership that could’ve prevented this. And that is the thing that is most tragic about this heartbreaking situation with this war is that it could have been avoided,” Gabbard told Fox News host and Daily Caller co-founder Tucker Carlson.
“If President Biden and NATO have done exactly what you were just talking about and agreeing ‘hey, we’re gonna take NATO off the table for Ukraine.’ Something that both the U.S. and NATO have agreed is likely never going to ever happen and something that is a legitimate security concern for Russia. They won’t accept having U.S. and NATO troops on their border within Ukraine.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced “a special military operation in Donbas” prior to the invasion. Russian forces launched a bombing campaign into several regions of Ukraine the following morning. Russian forces have since launched a missile attack on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, as of early Friday.
Gabbard said Americans are “smeared” and labeled as “traitors” for challenging the Biden administration’s decisions during the crisis. She said the administration “has turned their backs” on Americans. (RELATED: Peter Doocy Hits Biden With Three Questions After National Address)
Carlson asked about how “volatile” the invasion will become over time. Gabbard said she is “extremely concerned” about escalating conflict between the U.S. and Russia.
“You see this back and forth where you see the leader of Russia and the United States of America saying ‘hey, if they cyberattack we’re going to attack back stronger. This escalation of a tit-for-tat will only continue to increase and no one in the Biden administration, the leadership in this country, is saying ‘where does this go? Where does it end? What does it resolve and what will it continue to cost the American people?'”
Gabbard accused Biden Wednesday of risking Americans’ safety on behalf of Ukraine with the possibility of nuclear conflict between the U.S. and Russia.
“You and I, the American people, we will be left to out to deal with the consequences, to suffer and deal with that destruction and death that will come as a result,” she previously said.