Former Barack Obama Secretary of Defense Robert Gates criticized Joe Biden’s response to the war between Russia and Ukraine in an interview conducted over the weekend.
Gates made the comments when speaking with Chuck Todd on NBC News’ “Meet The Press.”
Upon being asked how Biden could have handled the situation in Ukraine better, Gates argued the administration’s current actions — sending tanks and other powerful military equipment to Ukraine — should have begun months before.
“A lot of this could’ve been done sooner,” Gates asserted. “And, you know, they’re talking about it potentially being six months, a year, or more before the Abrams tanks get there. I think the key thing about the Abrams tank decision was that it unlocked Germans being able to provide.”
The US should give Ukraine tanks and long-range missiles so that Ukraine wins, and the United States does not have to fight with Russia in the future, according to the former head of the US State Department Condoleezza Rice and the former head of the Pentagon Robert Gates. pic.twitter.com/LKETjFTuB1
— KyivPost (@KyivPost) January 8, 2023
Brought up later in the interview were the recent classified document scandals that have been incessantly covered by the mainstream media. Todd asked Gates for his thoughts on the scandals and what, if anything, he believes should be done about it.
“You have a legacy, I think, in Washington of sort of being a guy that sort of fixes sort of dumb problems. Meaning Like stuff — you’re like, “Why isn’t this fixed?” Todd asked. “So how would you [fix] this classified document situation that our politics finds itself in, is this something that the bureaucracy should fix? Or is there something more nefarious?”
“Well, I think – I think it’s about people being more responsible,” answered Gates. “I think there’s an element of carelessness. In some cases, there may be intent to take the documents. I think maybe we ought to look at the way transitions take place so that there’s a more orderly process for these classified documents.”
These remarks by Gates do not mark the first time he has attacked Biden’s record on foreign policy. In 2019, Gates stated that Biden has been “wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.” He provided several examples in 2021 of foreign policy opinions that he considered incorrect, including Biden’s opposition to former President Ronald Reagan’s military programs designed to contest the Soviet Union and his stance against the first Gulf War.
