White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki Sells Putin Price Hike

Is it Putin’s price hike or is it President Biden’s price hike? The U.S. was energy independent before President Biden took office. Yet, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki is blaming Russian President Vladimir Putin for record inflation numbers in the United States.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) report revealing these staggering numbers:

Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 8.5 percent before seasonal adjustment. Increases in the indexes for gasoline, shelter, and food were the largest contributors to the seasonally adjusted all items increase. The gasoline index rose 18.3 percent in March and accounted for over half of the all items monthly increase; other energy component indexes also increased. The food index rose 1.0 percent and the food at home index rose 1.5 percent. . . . The all items index continues to accelerate, rising 8.5 percent for the 12 months ending March, the largest 12-month increase since the period ending December 1981.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki tried to get ahead of this report coming out:

We’ve talked about inflation long before there was an invasion. But we also know that factually, if you look at the data, the average gas prices are up 80 cents to $1. It’s about a 25% – we’ve seen – increase in gas prices since the start of this invasion. And we know energy prices is a big driver of the inflation data. . . . . So, because of the actions we’ve taken to address Putin – the Putin price hike – we are in a better place than we were last month. But we expect March CPI headline inflation to be extraordinarily elevated, due to Putin’s price hike.

ACLJ Director of Policy Harry Hutchison explained what these numbers really mean for the American people:

It is important to keep in mind that the current inflation rate is 8.5% – the highest inflation rate since 1981 – but the projected inflation rate going forward throughout this year and into the early part of next year is at 14% annual inflation rate. So, what we have seen is exploding inflationary pressures in the energy sector, commodity sector, food sector, housing sector, and fertilizer sector. So that really means that the American economic house is on fire, and it has been set ablaze by the Biden Administration’s policy failures. They keep looking for someone else to blame. . . . If you look at the underlying sources of inflation it is fueled by a number of things. Clearly the federal reserve has engaged in an expansionary monetary policy. Equally clear, the Biden Administration has engaged in an inflationary approach to the budget. . . . At the end of the day, the Biden Administration effectively has engaged in a deliberate policy of fueling inflation. Airline prices have risen 24% year over year, 11% in March. Energy prices have gone up 11% in March. And while all of this is going on, Jen Psaki . . . stands before the American people while the band plays on and blames it on Vladimir Putin.

It's clear that Putin is not solely to blame for the inflation in the U.S., but he is to blame for the unprovoked invasion into Ukraine that has cost thousands of lives. To make matters worse, Putin has just brought in new commander Aleksandr Dvornikov, who has a history of targeting and killing civilians. ACLJ Senior Military Analyst Wes Smith explained in his new article how Putin has not given up on this invasion, he has just reset. He also gave his input on this new commander:

The world must not be fooled and think that somehow Putin is having second thoughts about the invasion or that he is backing away. They are doing a reset in Ukraine. . . . So far it has been very humiliating for the Russian forces. One quarter of their battalion tactical groups have been either decimated or they are no longer combat ready. So he has appointed Aleksandr Dvornikov . . . he is now supreme commander of all that is going on in Ukraine where Russia has lost thousands of troops so far. . . . He was in charge of the air campaign in Syria . . . and just the city of Aleppo under his command 25,000 civilians were killed by this general. . . . This is the kind of man he is. . . . The appointment of this general is an attempt by Putin to lick his wounds, consolidate his forces, and to start over again.

There are also stories floating around in the political world that Putin may increase an effort to interfere with the U.S. elections. ACLJ Senior Advisor for National Security and Foreign Policy and former Acting Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell commented on this:

When you look at the details of what they are saying, first of all, it is anonymous sources yet again. So it is anonymous sources who are running with this information pretending like it is real or verified. It is unverified intelligence, it is anonymous. It should not be getting this type of weight that reporters are giving it. . . . First of all, it’s the Beijing line, it’s the Chinese hope, that Americans and journalists in America constantly say look at Russia. The Chinese do not want anyone scrutinizing their relations with the Biden family. So, they are going to be very pleased to see the Daily Beast and others to say this is Russian disinformation. . . . The second thing is we have to remember that Russian disinformation is just the new term for Russian propaganda. . . . No one is surprised that the Russian government pushes propaganda. . . . I will finish with this, almost exclusively the Russian disinformation, the Russian propaganda, was about our election policy issues, our discussions around the elections, not the election itself. The Russians did not break into our election systems and change votes. . . . Yet the media pretends that the Russian attack on our election is somehow with vote counting. It is with the discussion and largely on social media about the election.

We will continue to monitor these issues and provide you with updates.

Today’s full Sekulow broadcast is complete with even more in-depth analysis of inflation issues in the U.S., a new commander for Russia, and the media reporting Russia will interfere with U.S. elections.

Watch the full broadcast below

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