Biden imposes new sanctions on Russia amid military onslaught in Ukraine

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• Judy Woodruff:

  But, for now, a day of testing for this administration and for President Biden himself.

  Lisa Desjardins has been following all the developments on both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue.

  And she joins me now from the White House.

  So, Lisa, you were there for the president's remarks today. And you have been talking to people. Tell us what message people are taking away from what he had to say.

• Lisa Desjardins:

  Well, the president has been observing these events, monitoring them closely we're told by White House officials, from the residence and from the Oval Office throughout this.

  And it was clear tonight in his address — this afternoon in his address that he was speaking to the American people. The message he is trying to send is one of expectation-setting, realizing that this is not just a war about territory, but Vladimir Putin is setting a war about ideology.

  It's important, the White House says, that President Biden is stressing to the American people that this is about American values, the idea of freedom itself, something he says America must fight for. And he warned very clearly, Judy, that Americans may feel some pain from this, especially at places like the gas pump.

  He also did something interesting, setting expectations about time frame here. He told us today in the East Room of the White House that he expects Ukraine will feel this, will have a difficult, hard road ahead of it for weeks and months. That is a longer spectrum.

  And it's also important that he noted that he again stressed he will not send troops to Ukraine to fight Russia. But he clearly said, if NATO allies themselves are attacked, then, in fact, that is on the table.

• Judy Woodruff:

  And, Lisa, we heard the president also suggesting that there could be even harsher, more powerful sanctions to come. What would those be and why hold off on them?

• Lisa Desjardins:

  This is such an important part of the conversation right now at the White House and around Washington, in fact, around the world.

  Let's look at some of the sanctions that have not yet been launched by the White House, by the American administration here. First, at the top of the list, no sanctions yet against Vladimir Putin himself. Talking to sources on the hill and here at the White House today, there is divide over whether that would be effective and, in fact, if they could even track down his actual assets.

  Second, something called secondary sanctions, those are important. That's the idea of sanctions against banks, institutions, businesses which actually interact with Russian banks. These are the kinds of sanctions that really had such an effect on Iran, North Korea. That is something that this White House has not deployed yet.

  And then, finally, the idea of shutting Russia out of the SWIFT banking system, that's not something the U.S. controls, but it is something that the U.S. could levy enough sanctions on to essentially freeze Russia out. That is something that it's debated how worthwhile it is, what effect it would have. But it is something that remains on the table.

  Why hasn't this administration launched those tougher sanctions, especially the secondary sanctions, with Russia invading now? Well, I'm told by sources again here at the White House and at the Capitol it's because of Europe. European allies are not yet on board those. They would feel the pain from those sanctions more than America.

  And President Biden wants a unified front here.

• Judy Woodruff:

  And finally, Lisa, I know you have also been talking to sources on Capitol Hill. What are they saying right now?

• Lisa Desjardins:

  Right.

  First of all, we saw unified rhetoric, Republican and Democrat, this morning coming after the attack, supporting President Biden, and, moreover, criticizing President Putin.

  But I have to say that has flaked away in the last few hours after the announcement of these latest sanctions, some criticism, including from the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, who today came out and said that President Biden has effectively not deterred anything and needs to issue more sanctions now.

  I can tell you some Democrats privately tell me they agree. They think it is time for more sanctions now. Also, an interesting note, there is a different amount of opinion now on what happens next. Some who are very well-read on this, on the Hill, especially, tell me they think perhaps Putin stops or is stopped with a third of Ukraine, but there is a growing sense, Judy, that perhaps he goes much farther than that, even establishing a puppet government in the short term.

  I will tell you, tonight, you hear drums at the White House from a demonstration nearby. They are beating for Ukraine.

• Judy Woodruff:

  All right, Lisa Desjardins reporting across the city today.

  Thank you, Lisa.

• Lisa Desjardins:

  You're welcome.