“Is there a Brutus in Russia? Is there a more successful Colonel Stauffenberg in the Russian military?” Graham tweeted. “The only way this ends is for somebody in Russia to take this guy out. You would be doing your country — and the world — a great service.”
Graham’s communications director sought to clarify his comments Thursday night, noting that Graham said on NewsMax that he was “okay with a coup to remove Putin as well.”
“Basic point, Putin has to go,” Kevin Bishop said on Twitter. “He also noted it will be – has to be – the Russian people who do it. They control the ‘off ramp’ to this ordeal.”
Psaki was also pressed on Graham’s view that a diplomatic solution is not possible as long as Putin is in power, and whether the White House shares this assessment.
“President Putin has the ability to deescalate. We have left the door open for months now to be engaged through deescalation,” Psaki said. “But no, we are not advocating for killing the leader of a foreign country or regime change. That is not the policy of the United States.”