As recently as Monday the White House and Biden administration still has the audacity to blame inflation and high gas prices on Russian President Putin and his invasion of Ukraine.

However, while testifying Wednesday before the Senate Banking Committee, Chair of the Federal Reserve Jerome Powell debunked the administration’s false blame.

With the biggest single driver of inflation being Putin’s war against Ukraine, @POTUS has taken action to blunt the impact of Putin’s Price Hike for families.

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) June 20, 2022

The White House tweeted “with the biggest single driver of inflation being Putin’s war against Ukraine, @POTUS has taken action to blunt the impact of Putin’s Price Hike for families.”

No matter how many times the the White House clicks together its red sparkly shoes and says “Putin”, the fact remains that inflation, the supply chain and prices we’re hurting the American people long before Putin began his conquest of Ukraine.

During his testimony, Republican Tennessee Senator Bill Hagerty asked Powell if “Putin’s price hike” was to blame.

“I realize there are a number of factors that play a role in the historic inflation that we’re experiencing: supply chain disruptions, regulations that constrain supply, we’ve got rising inflation expectations and excessive fiscal spending, but the problem hasn’t sprung out of nowhere,” Hagerty said.

“In January of 2021, inflation was at 1.4%. By December of 2021, it had risen to 7% — a fivefold increase.”

“Since the war in Ukraine began in late February, the rate of inflation has risen incrementally another 1.6% to a current level of 8.6%,” he continued. “Given how inflation has escalated over the past 18 months, would you say that the war in Ukraine is the primary driver of inflation in America?”

“No,” Powell said. “Inflation was high before, certainly before the war in Ukraine broke out.”