MSNBC host Joe Scarborough asked Monday on “Morning Joe” if President Joe Biden’s administration intends to get “more aggressive” if Russia hits Ukraine with chemical weapons.
“Forgive me, this is going to sound condescending, but it’s too early for me to figure out any other way to say it,” Scarborough began. “Does the Biden administration understand that when Americans and Europeans see 5-year-old children choked to death by Putin’s chemical weapons that we’re going to have to go in? Do they understand that there is no holding back, that we’re gonna have to take a far more aggressive approach.”
Scarborough pointed to the war crimes being committed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and what he called the “useful idiots” who claim Ukraine has chemical weapons. (RELATED: ‘Wrong About Vladimir Putin All Along’: Joe Scarborough Rips Republicans For Praising, ‘Backtracking’ On Russia)
MSNBC host and Politico’s White House bureau chief Jonathan Lemire said administration officials recognize the nation is “teetering toward a far more dangerous phase” of the war. He said the Biden administration is attempting to give Europe confidence by promising “not to escalate” the war by putting troops on the ground.
“If Putin chooses to expand it, or if chemical weapons are indeed used, either in Ukraine or elsewhere in Europe, that is going to change the equation,” Lemire told Scarborough. “And these are meetings that security officials at the White House and the Pentagon are having around the clock right now to figure out what the strategy and response will be.”
Russia launched airstrikes near the Polish border Sunday, leaving 35 dead, CBS News reported. The attack followed Russian threats to block the shipments of foreign weapons to the Ukrainian people.
Russian forces bombed a maternity hospital Wednesday, killing 3 and injuring at least 17 people in the city of Mariupol.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a March 6 interview that the U.S. is looking into “credible reports” of war crimes committed by Putin following the March 4 attack of a nuclear power plant.