President Joe Biden announced his decision to ban oil imports from Russia at the White House on Tuesday, just days after his administration argued against the idea.
“We will not be part of subsidizing Putin’s war,” Biden said, painting the decision as a moral one after Russian president Vladimir Putin escalated his war in Ukraine.
Biden’s ban was announced as he faced growing pressure from a bipartisan coalition of members of Congress to pass their own bill to ban Russian oil imports.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki and other Biden officials spent days defending their decision not to ban oil imports from Russia, warning it would only enrich Putin by raising gas prices.
“It also has the potential to pad the pockets of President Putin, which is exactly what we are not trying to do,” Psaki said during a press briefing Thursday when asked why Biden had not…
