Newly-elected House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) made it clear in one of his first interviews that the United States will not abandon Ukraine and allow Vladimir Putin an easy victory.
“We can’t allow Vladimir Putin to prevail in Ukraine, because I don’t believe it would stop there, and it would probably encourage and empower China to perhaps make a move on Taiwan. We have these concerns,” Johnson said in an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity.
“We’re not going to abandon them, but we have a responsibility, a stewardship responsibility, over the precious treasure of the American people, and we have to make sure that the White House is providing the people with some accountability for the dollars,” Johnson continued in regard to funding to Ukraine.
Johnson had a meeting earlier with President Biden and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) about the $106 billion aid request that includes $14 billion for Israel, $60 billion for Ukraine, and $14 billion each for Taiwan and border security.
Speaker Mike Johnson was asked if he supports additional Ukraine aid.
“We all do…we are going to have conditions on that so we’re working through,” he said.
“We want accountability and we want objectives that are clear from the White House.“ pic.twitter.com/rABVPkHCDw
— Kyle Stewart (@KyleAlexStewart) October 25, 2023
“We want accountability, and we want objectives that are clear from the White House,“ Johnson later said in response to a question about what the conditions would be.
Biden has been resistant to the idea of opening the books on Ukraine for Congress to see exactly where the money is going. He has yet to indicate that he’s willing to do that — a problem for a majority of Republicans.
Johnson certainly struck a statesmanlike tone in his initial address to Congress.
“We want our allies around the world to know that this body of lawmakers is reporting again to our duty stations. Let the enemies of freedom around the world hear us loud and clear: The people’s House is back in business,” Johnson said during his post-election speech on Wednesday.
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Johnson indicated that he wants the issues of Ukraine aid and assistance to Israel decoupled so that Republicans can include accountability measures.
Newly elected U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said on Thursday that funding to support Ukraine and Israel should be handled separately, suggesting he will not back President Joe Biden’s $106 billion aid package for both countries.
Johnson, speaking in an interview on Fox News, has concerns about Ukraine funding in general, and believes any money for Israel will need to be funded by cuts elsewhere.
He met Biden on Thursday and said he told White House staff “our consensus among House Republicans is we need to bifurcate those issues.”
Johnson added, “We want to know what the object is there, what is the end game in Ukraine.” If we listen to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the war won’t end until every inch of Ukrainian territory seized by Russia in the last decade is either returned or won back in battle. Biden hasn’t contradicted Zelenskyy, meaning that he agrees with that idea.
It’s not going to happen — unless American troops are sent in to fight Russians. And that scenario is unthinkable given the nuclear consequences that could easily come to pass.
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