Sen. John Kennedy criticizes the Trump administration’s approach to Putin amid latest peace talks

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., criticized Republican leadership on a number of issues including the Trump administration’s handling of the Ukraine peace process and Senate leaders’ response to inflation woes.

Kennedy told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” on Sunday he believes the Trump administration should take a different approach to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“This guy’s a pirate. He’s got blood under his fingernails. He doesn’t care about a bunch of pretty talk,” Kennedy said Sunday, as U.S. envoys meet with leaders on both sides of the conflict. “You don’t get any credit for kissing his ass. You’ve got to show him you mean business.”

Last week, the House failed to pass a Russian sanctions bill that the Senate approved in August.

“We should have passed that Russian sanctions bill, and we’ve got another chance to do it,” the Louisiana senator said. “Then we ought to help Ukraine and help Europe. They’re doing OK on their own, but we can provide them intelligence.”

Kennedy’s comments come as President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and the president’s special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Putin in Russia and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv this weekend .

“We got Putin down. We’re choking him to death. We’re choking him. We’ve got to choke him to death. That’s what he understands,” the senator added. “I’m not putting down any of the talk, and I think talk is good and it can be helpful. But I won’t faint with surprise if our guys don’t come out of there without a deal.”

Kennedy also weighed in on the ongoing military conflict with Iran, telling “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker that the war will “probably not” end before the upcoming midterm elections.

Still, he praised the Trump administration’s decision to launch the military conflict, telling Welker: “We have accomplished all of our objectives in Iran. ... There’s just one problem: the Strait [of Hormuz] is semi-closed.”

The senator said that with the strait still blockaded by the U.S. military, gas prices in the U.S. likely won’t drop soon.

“The blockade was a smart play. It’s hurting the Iranians badly. It’s hurting the government,” Kennedy said. “I think we ought to leave it on for a few more months if we can stand the pain at the pump.”

Kennedy on Sunday also expressed doubt that Republicans in Congress would be able to do anything to lower costs or tackle inflation before November’s midterm elections, lightly criticizing his own leadership for not dealing with the issue sooner.

He described the economy as “solid” and pointed to “low” unemployment numbers, but said that inflation is “a big if.”

“It’s gutting people like a fish. Inflation is pernicious. And we’ve had it for a few years now. It’s been up and down since President Biden’s administration,” Kennedy said. “What we ought to do is something about it. I’m not blaming it on the president or the House. The Senate Republicans, about five months ago, for a reconciliation bill, we should have addressed it. We didn’t for a couple reasons. Number one, I couldn’t convince the majority leader to put a bill like that on the floor. And number two, we’re probably three or four votes short.”

Asked whether Republicans have enough time to address inflation before the midterm elections, Kennedy said, “We can do anything we want to in reconciliation and ask the House to come back and do it.”

Kennedy highlighted a procedural move Senate Republicans could use to pass some legislation without support from Senate Democrats but cast doubt on whether they would. “I’m not saying we will do that, certainly based on our record the last five or six months. It’s not likely.”