President Donald Trump is the only one who can pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiate an end to the war with Ukraine, Sen. Markwayne Mullin told ABC News' "This Week" on Sunday.
The Oklahoma Republican, who is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said that "Putin knows the one person that can truly change the war is the United States. If we went all-in for Ukraine, if we went all-in with the resources we have, from air superiority to the weapons that we can deploy to Ukraine, Putin knows at that point he would be in an extremely negative position."
The senator stressed that this is "the opportunity for President Trump to talk to Putin and say, Listen, we want to end the war. We don't want to have to engage more, but we're not going to allow you to move forward. So let's negotiate a peace deal here, or you're going to force our hand to be farther involved."
Mullin emphasized that is "what peace through strength is."
He praised Trump's negotiation tactics, despite some saying that he conceded too much to Putin before talks even began on the question of Ukraine ceding territory captured by Russia and giving up its goal to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
"What President Trump is doing here is actually really smart. He's meeting with [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy," Mullin said. "He's having conversations with him. You're seeing [Secretary of State Marco] Rubio. You saw that the senators and representatives both met with Zelenskyy while they were in Munich, and you're seeing them also meeting with Putin in Saudi Arabia."
The senator said such a tactic is "putting both people, getting them in separate rooms, talking about what they will accept, and then finding out a negotiation path forward before you bring them to the table. A lot of times, bring people to the table too fast ... it'll blow up. They'll walk away. And you'll set back the talks for maybe six months."
Mullin stressed that "we do know we have the best negotiator possible in the White House," adding that "if we will trust the process, he will be able to negotiate a peace deal for both countries."
Mullin also defended Elon Musk's efforts to overhaul the federal government, saying that "anytime you take over a situation, like Elon Musk has had many opportunities and many experiences with taking over businesses, you have to start cutting some of the fat. And unfortunately, the No. 1 expense we have in the United States government right now is payroll."
Asked if Musk should have to testify before Congress about his actions, Mullin said "that's up to President Trump. Keep in mind, President Trump put in Musk to be a consultant, just like many successful corporations around the world, including myself, that have hired consultants to come in and look at it from an unbiased perspective."
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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