Alaska GOP Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka discusses media's deflection on energy crisis
Tshibaka, running against Sen. Lisa Murkowski this fall, speaks with Fox News Digital.
Alaska U.S. Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka spoke with Fox News Digital on Tuesday about how some mainstream media and Democrats are shifting blame for inflation and gas price spikes from the on Russian President Vladimir Putin amid his invasion of Ukraine.
Under President Trump, the U.S. was energy independent, Tshibaka said -- adding that until the recent ban, President Biden's energy policies forced new reliance on the American adversary.
"I'm sitting in Nome, Alaska, today on the western edge of Alaska's coast, and we are essentially a border state to Russia," she said.
"About a year and a half ago, the United States was energy independent. We were getting all of our energy resources we needed right here at home and instead, on the very first day of his administration, Biden decided to start attacking Alaskans … shutting down our work, our industries, our families."
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Tshibaka dismissed the media's attempts to deflect blame for the energy crisis on the ex-KGB agent, after outlets like CBS News claimed that "the U.S. economy has been hit with increased gas prices, inflation, and supply-chain issues due to the Ukraine crisis."
"I think we're tired of this spectrum of deception, from misinformation to what us common sense Americans just call ‘lies’," she said.
"We're ready for people to talk straight. We know because we live this horrible experience of inflation. They've been telling us inflation is at near 8% for the last four months," she added.
Tshibaka said the inflation issue isn't new in the same way the Russian war against Ukraine is, and that the pinch is even greater for some Alaska communities compared to the rest of the U.S.
Alaska U.S. Senate Kelly Tshibaka, R. (Tshibaka campaign)
"You can't blame Putin for inflation rates that were near eight percent four months ago – but Biden's good at blaming everybody but Biden. He's blamed oil companies and meat companies … and Republicans," she said. "But it's never Joe Biden's fault. But of course, they don't write that on his index cards, do they?"
She added that much of the blame also falls on "radical environmentalists", claiming Interior Secretary Debra Haaland is a prominent example.
Tshibaka criticized her primary opponent, incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, for casting a decisive vote to confirm Haaland, whom the candidate said is substantially to blame for stymieing Alaska's energy production – and therefore affecting the national economy.
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"Deb Haaland is the one leading that charge, to help kill ANWR, NPR-A (National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska), our Willow oil field; I could go on," she said.
Thanks to Haaland and Biden, Tshibaka said, the U.S. has been forced to overlook Alaska in favor of nefarious regimes in Russia and Venezuela.
"[Biden and Haaland] are who's really responsible for all of these problems that we're seeing from this global energy crisis to inflation. Joe Biden is the worst president the United States has ever had," she said.
(Interior Sec. Debra Haaland (AP) || Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, (Reuters))
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She also faulted Biden for initially allowing the Russian NordStream II pipeline to transport Russian energy to Germany, while unilaterally shutting down the Keystone XL pipeline back in the United States. Nord Stream II "gave Putin and iron fist on global energy production," she said, adding that while many on the left are supportive of Biden, some "common sense Democrats" like former Obama economic adviser Steven Rattner see that the president has to admit to some blame himself.
When Biden blamed Putin for causing U.S. inflation, Rattner responded on Twitter, pointing out that the inflation figures released last week were from the period mostly preceding the Russian leader's invasion of Ukraine:
"This is Biden's inflation, and he needs to own it," Rattner said.
Responding to efforts by Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Mass., and Sheldon Whitehouse, R.I., to institute a "windfall profits tax", Tshibaka said such a plan would directly hurt Alaskan jobs and industry.
"The oil companies are the people who are employing the Alaskan workers around me. I've talked to multiple workers just in the last few days. They're completely bankrupt up here because oil companies aren't hiring people," she said. "So you want to know who's making all those profits. Vladimir Putin, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the people who Joe Biden is sending his emissaries to, begging and pleading them with a knee-bent, ‘will you please produce more oil?’."
Tshibaka also slammed Biden spokeswoman Jen Psaki saying gas prices are high because oil companies have hundreds of leases they have thus far left untouched.
"You can open up all the leases in the apartment building, but when you don't hand out the keys, nobody is going to exercise their leases," she said.
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(Chinese President Xi Jinping, U.S. President Joe Biden, Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Getty))
Tshibaka stressed the important role Alaska plays in helping with country's national security.
"Alaska policy fundamentally is tied to our national security. And that's one of the reasons why I think everyone in America wants to be supporting Alaska's policy and Alaska's leaders because where Alaska goes fundamentally determines where America goes," she said. "If we're going to be energy independent. We need to be ‘Alaska Independent’ and support energy development in Alaska and mining in Alaska."