John Kennedy
Role at the time: U.S. Senator from Louisiana, speaking to reporters at a campaign appearance in Michigan, as reported by The Hill
Statement summary
Sen. John Kennedy said he did not support importing diesel from Putin, whom he called a butcher of his own people and of Ukrainians, while saying the president is doing everything he can to get diesel prices down.
“support his decision to import it from Putin. Vladimir Putin is a butcher. He’s a butcher of his own people. And he’s a butcher of the good people of Ukraine.”
The Hill report on Republican objections to the diesel arrangement. It quotes Kennedy and Rogers from a Friday campaign appearance in Michigan, where a reporter asked about the deal.
Why we used this label
The case asks whether the U.S. should ease sanctions on Russian diesel to lower fuel prices, as the administration did on October 9. The Hill reports that Kennedy does not "support his decision to import it from Putin" and calls Putin "a butcher". That opposes the Russian supply, so we labeled it Condemned. The closest competing label is Mixed or conditional, since The Hill reports that he supported the president's decision and he says the president is "doing everything he can to get diesel prices down"; it loses because what he backs is the aim of lower prices, not the Russian diesel.