Afrigather Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visits the Scranton Military Ammunition Plant in Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S., September 22, 2024.
Ukrainian Presidential Press Service | Reuters
Home Oversight Chair James Comer is opening an investigation into Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Sunday go to to an ammunition manufacturing facility in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Comer claims that the journey was organized to marketing campaign for Vice President Kamala Harris’ bid for presidency, and was performed utilizing “taxpayer-funded assets.”
The Republican investigation comes as the connection between Zelenskyy and former president Donald Trump appears to bitter.
On Wednesday, Trump accused Zelenskyy of insulting him — Trump stated the Ukrainian president was “making nasty little dispersions towards” him — and including that he received together with Russian President Vladimir Putin “very nicely.”
“There’s actually nothing for the Ukrainian folks to return to, and it did not have to occur. These buildings are down, these cities are gone. They’re gone, and we proceed to offer billions of {dollars} to a person who refuses to make a deal,” Trump stated of Zelenskyy whereas talking at a plumbing elements producer in Mint Hill, North Carolina.
Zelenskyy is in the USA to attend the UN Common Meeting high-level week in New York, the place he’s assembly with world leaders. He additionally plans to go to the White Home on Thursday, the place he’ll meet with President Joe Biden and, later within the day, with Harris.
Trump was anticipated to satisfy with the Ukrainian President on Thursday at Trump Tower, however a Trump marketing campaign official advised NBC Information Wednesday that the assembly was not occurring. When requested why, a supply accustomed to the matter pointed to Zelenskyy’s New Yorker interview.
In an interview printed Sunday by the New Yorker, Zelenskyy stated that Trump’s operating mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance was “too radical” and his message “appears to be that Ukraine should make a sacrifice,” in ending the battle with Russia.
When requested if Ukraine ought to cede land in alternate for a ceasefire with Russia in a press convention Wednesday, Vance stated “every thing goes to be on the desk.”
Comer’s letter additionally criticized the timing of the go to with the publishing of Zelenskyy’s feedback relating to Trump’s operating mate.
The ammunition manufacturing facility that Zelenskyy visited is operated by Common Dynamics and manufactures parts for 155 mm artillery shells, an important piece of ammunition to Ukraine’s battle efforts.America had shipped greater than 3 million rounds of it to Ukraine since February 2022, based on a Pentagon truth sheet from July 2024
On Wednesday, the Protection Division introduced extra safety help of $375 million for Ukraine, together with extra of the 155 mm artillery shells that the Scranton manufacturing facility focuses on manufacturing.
“I started my go to to the USA by expressing my gratitude to all the staff on the plant and by reaching agreements to develop cooperation between Pennsylvania and our Zaporizhzhia,” Zelenskyy wrote on X Sunday.
There, Zelenskyy additionally met with three Pennsylvania Democrats; Governor Josh Shapiro, Senator Bob Casey and Rep. Matt Cartwright. Each Casey and Cartwright are up for reelection in November.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy President of Ukraine addresses the “Summit of the Future” within the Common Meeting Corridor of the United Nations Headquarters in New York Metropolis, U.S., September 23, 2024.
Caitlin Ochs | Reuters
“The Scranton Military Ammunition Plant is taking part in a crucial position bolstering Ukraine’s forces, and I used to be honored to affix President Zelenskyy to thank Pennsylvania employees for serving to defend democracy. Makes an attempt to smear his go to to our Commonwealth are an insult and a shame,” Sen. Casey stated in an announcement to CNBC.
Spokespeople for the governor’s workplace and Cartwright’s marketing campaign didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon the investigation.
“In 2019, the Democrat-controlled Home of Representatives impeached President Donald J. Trump for abuse of energy beneath the speculation that he tried to make use of a international chief—Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky—to profit his 2020 presidential marketing campaign, regardless of an absence of any proof of wrongdoing on the a part of President Trump,” Chairman Comer wrote in a press launch Wednesday.
A 30-minute cellphone name between then-president Trump and Zelenskyy in 2019, the place the previous president requested Zelenskyy to research the actions of his then rival President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, was part of the impeachment inquiry into Trump.
“The Biden-Harris Administration lately flew the identical international chief—Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky—on an American-taxpayer-funded flight to Pennsylvania, a battleground state within the upcoming 2024 presidential election, which has been described because the ‘trickiest battleground for Vice President Kamala Harris to win,” Comer continued.
Comer sought extra data on authorities assets used for and all inner and exterior communications relating to the journey in letters despatched to Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin, Lawyer Common Merrick Garland and White Home Counsel Edward Siskel.
Republican Home Speaker Mike Johnson additionally despatched a sternly worded letter in regards to the Pennsylvania journey Wednesday. Johnson wrote on to Zelenskyy, and requested the wartime chief to recall Ukraine’s Ambassador to the USA, Oksana Markarova, who helped arrange the go to to Scranton.
U.S. Speaker of the Home Mike Johnson (R-LA) walks to his workplace on the U.S. Capitol on September 17, 2024 in Washington, DC.
Kevin Dietsch | Getty Photographs
“The tour was clearly a partisan marketing campaign occasion designed to assist Democrats and is clearly election interference,” Johnson wrote. “This shortsighted and deliberately political transfer has triggered Republicans to lose belief in Ambassador Markarova’s potential to pretty and successfully function a diplomat on this nation.”
Comer’s investigation comes a day after 9 Home Republicans signed a letter despatched to Division of Justice Inspector Common Michael Horowitz and Division of Protection Inspector Common Robert Storch, demanding “a full investigation into the usage of U.S. navy property and federal assets in relation to the go to.”
Within the letter, the Republicans posit that Zelenskyy might have flown into Scranton on a U.S. Air Power plane and offered Secret Service safety.
Trump’s place on the battle in Ukraine, and America’s position in it, has been a supply of controversy on the marketing campaign path and drawn criticism from each Democrats and from some Republicans. A number of Republicans have cited Trump’s ambivalence about U.S. help for Ukraine as one of many causes they endorsed Harris over him.
In contrast, Biden reiterated his administration’s help for Ukraine Wednesday, including that he’ll announce extra “sequence of actions to speed up help for Ukraine’s navy” on Thursday.
