Andrew Roth in New York
Wed 25 September 2024
Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant on Sunday.Photograph: AP
The US House speaker, Mike Johnson, has demanded that Ukraine fire its ambassador to Washington as the feud between Donald Trump and Volodymr Zelenskyy escalated and Republicans accused the Ukrainian leader of election interference.
In a public letter, Johnson demanded that Zelenskyy fire the Ukrainian ambassador, Oksana Markarova, over a visit to a munitions factory in Scranton, Pennsylvania, last week where the Ukrainian president thanked workers for providing desperately needed shells to his outgunned forces.
Johnson complained that Markarova had organised the visit to the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant as a “partisan campaign event designed to help Democrats”. The event was attended by the Pennsylvania governor, Josh Shapiro, a Democrat who has campaigned in support of Kamala Harris.
Related: Zelenskyy is pitching his ‘victory plan’ on adverse terrain
“The facility was in a politically contested battleground state, was led by a top political surrogate for Kamala Harris, and failed to include a single Republican because – on purpose – no Republicans were invited,” Johnson wrote in a letter on congressional letterhead addressed to the Ukrainian embassy.
“The tour was clearly a partisan campaign event designed to help Democrats and is clearly election interference,” the letter continued. “This shortsighted and intentionally political move has caused Republicans to lose trust in Ambassador Markarova’s ability to fairly and effectively serve as a diplomat in this country. She should be removed from her post immediately.”
On the same day, Trump in a campaign event in North Carolina attacked Zelenskyy directly and accused him of “refusing” to negotiate a peace deal with Vladimir Putin.
“The president of Ukraine is in our country. He is making little nasty aspersions toward your favourite president, me,” Trump said. “We continue to give billions of dollars to a man who refuses to make a deal: Zelenskyy.”
The accusations against Zelenskyy came after a controversial interview with the New Yorker in which he questioned Trump’s plan to end Ukraine’s war with Russia and sharply criticized Republicans’ vice-presidential candidate, JD Vance, as “too radical”.
Vance had earlier said a peace in Ukraine could entail Russia retaining the Ukrainian land it had occupied and the establishment a demilitarised zone with a heavily fortified frontline to prevent another Russian invasion.
“His message seems to be that Ukraine must make a sacrifice,” Zelenskyy said in the interview with the New Yorker. “This brings us back to the question of the cost and who shoulders it. The idea that the world should end this war at Ukraine’s expense is unacceptable. But I do not consider this concept of his a plan, in any formal sense.”
After addressing the United Nations general assembly on Wednesday, Zelenskyy is expected to travel to Washington to present his “victory plan” to Joe Biden at the White House.
In his letter, Johnson also referred to Ukrainian officials criticizing Trump and Vance in remarks to the media.
“Additionally, as I have clearly stated in the past, all foreign nations should avoid opining on or interfering in American domestic politics,” he said. “Support for ending Russia’s war against Ukraine continues to be bipartisan, but our relationship is unnecessarily tested and needlessly tarnished when the candidates at the top of the Republican presidential ticket are targeted in the media by officials in your government.”
Other top Republicans had criticized Zelenskyy this week after his remarks about Trump and Vance were published.
“I don’t mind him going to a munitions plant thanking people for helping Ukraine. But I think his comments about JD Vance and President Trump were out of bounds,” said the Republican senator Lindsey Graham, according to US-based Punchbowl News.
“With conservatives, it’s going to hurt Ukraine,” Graham said.
House speaker wants Ukrainian ambassador fired over Zelensky’s Pennsylvania trip
Andrew Feinberg
Wed 25 September 2024
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy stands near Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro during his visit to the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant in Scranton, Pennsylvania (REUTERS)
House Speaker Mike Johnson is demanding that Volodymyr Zelensky fire the widely respected diplomat who has represented Kyiv in Washington since 2021 after she arranged for the Ukrainian president to visit a munitions plant in a battleground state with a Democratic governor.
In a letter released by Johnson’s office on Wednesday, the Louisiana Republican accused Ambassador Oksana Markarova of interfering in the ongoing US presidential election by helping set up the trip by Zelensky to the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant in Scranton, Pennsylvania, over the weekend.
During his visit, Zelensky inspected production lines where the 155mm artillery shells used by his country’s forces are being produced. He did so alongside the state’s governor, Josh Shapiro.
While inspecting the plant, he told workers: “It is in places like this where you can truly feel that the democratic world can prevail. Thanks to people like these — in Ukraine, in America, and in all partner countries — who work tirelessly to ensure that life is protected.”
What appears to have irked Johnson is the fact that no Republican officeholder was invited to the plant visit, along with the fact that Shapiro, who was considered a front-runner to be Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate before she selected Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, is a top surrogate for the vice president.
In his letter, the House Speaker claimed that Markarova enabled Zelensky to interfere in the election because the manufacturing plant “was in a politically contested battleground state” and the tour led by Shapiro “failed to include a single Republican because — on purpose — no Republicans were invited.”
“The tour was clearly a partisan campaign event designed to help Democrats and is clearly election interference. This shortsighted and intentionally political move has caused Republicans to lose trust in Ambassador Markarova’s ability to fairly and effectively serve as a diplomat in this country,” he wrote, adding that the veteran diplomat “should be removed from her post immediately.”
Zelensky, who is in the US to attend the UN General Assembly this week, also irked Republicans by criticizing former President Donald Trump in an interview with the New Yorker.
He said the ex-president, who was impeached for attempting to blackmail the Ukrainian leader into announcing a fake investigation into Joe Biden when he was a candidate for president in 2019, “doesn’t really know how to stop the war even if he might think he knows how.”
Trump has frequently claimed, without evidence, that he could end the nearly three-year-old war “in 24 hours” by forcing Zelensky to make some sort of deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a known ally of the ex-president.
At a rally on Monday, he claimed Zelensky wants Democrats to win the election “so badly” and repeated the claim the next day.
Numerous Republicans have opposed US assistance to Ukraine since the war began in 2022, with some repeating Russian propaganda about Zelensky during official House proceedings.
Zelensky is set to visit Washington on Thursday, where he is scheduled to meet with Senate leaders from both parties as well as President Biden and Vice President Harris.
Top Republican wants Ukrainian ambassador to US fired, ahead of Zelenskiy visit
Press conference at the Republican National Committee in Washington
Updated Wed 25 September 2024
By Patricia Zengerle
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Republican Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives demanded that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy "immediately fire" his ambassador to the United States on Wednesday, a day before Ukraine's leader was due to visit the U.S. Congress.
Some Republicans, particularly those closest to former President Donald Trump, have been fuming over Zelenskiy's visit on Sunday to an ammunition plant in President Joe Biden's hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is one of the swing states seen as crucial to victory in the Nov. 5 presidential election.
During the trip, Zelenskiy appeared with Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro - who has campaigned for Democratic presidential candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris - Senator Bob Casey and U.S. Representative Matt Cartwright. All are Democrats.
"The facility was in a politically contested battleground state, was led by a top political surrogate for Kamala Harris, and failed to include a single Republican because – on purpose – no Republicans were invited," wrote Johnson, who is not expected to meet with Zelenskiy when the Ukrainian leader comes to Congress.
"The tour was clearly a partisan campaign event designed to help Democrats and is clearly election interference," he said.
The Ukrainian embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.
TRUMP BLASTS ZELENSKIY
Trump has repeatedly criticized the Ukrainian president on the campaign trail this week.
"Those cities are gone, they’re gone, and we continue to give billions of dollars to a man who refused to make a deal, Zelenskiy. There was no deal that he could have made that wouldn’t have been better than the situation you have right now," Trump said on Wednesday. "You have a country that has been obliterated, not possible to be rebuilt."
The former president also blamed Biden and Harris for Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
The Republican-led House Oversight Committee had already announced that it would investigate whether Zelenskiy's trip was an attempt to use a foreign leader to benefit Harris' campaign.
It is common practice for governors to meet with foreign leaders who travel to their states. In July, Zelenskiy visited a factory in Utah and was hosted by that state's Republican governor, Spencer Cox.
Additionally, a series of foreign leaders, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have traveled to Florida, in recent months to meet with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago home. Trump won Florida by only 3 percentage points in the 2020 election, and recent polls have shown a close race there between Harris and Trump.
On Thursday, Zelenskiy is expected to thank congressional leaders for approving billions of dollars in funding for his country as it grapples with a 2-1/2-year-long Russian invasion, and to make the case for more.
After becoming speaker last year, Johnson, who had voted repeatedly against aid for Kyiv, waited until April before allowing the House to vote on Biden's October request for financial assistance for Ukraine.
However, he said on Wednesday his letter to Zelenskiy was not a threat to stop funding.
"I'm not making any threats," he told reporters.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle, additional reporting by Bo Erickson; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
Speaker Johnson demands Ukrainian ambassador be fired as GOP probes Zelensky visit
Rebecca Beitsch
Wed 25 September 2024 at 1:56 pm GMT-6·4-min read
Speaker Johnson demands Ukrainian ambassador be fired as GOP probes Zelensky visit
Comments from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sparked a second day of ire from GOP figures, with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) demanding he fire the country’s ambassador to the U.S., while a House panel launched an investigation after suggesting a recent appearance by Zelensky amounted to election meddling.
House Oversight and Accountability Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) on Wednesday morning launched an inquiry into Zelensky’s trip to Pennsylvania, suggesting a visit to a factory that supplies munitions to the country constituted a campaign stop for Vice President Harris.
Republicans cried foul over the visit Tuesday, particularly after Zelensky issued critical comments about former President Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), during a separate interview.
Zelensky visited the factory flanked by Pennsylvania Democrats, including Gov. Josh Shapiro (D). It is common for governors to appear at such events in their state, , and other attendees included the largely Democratic officials who represent the Scranton area.
Johnson and Comer, however, said appearing with a political figure who was briefly a contender to serve as Harris’s running mate made the stop political in nature.
“The facility was in a politically contested battleground state, was led by a top political surrogate for Kamala Harris, and failed to include a single Republican because – on purpose – no Republicans were invited. The tour was clearly a partisan campaign event designed to help Democrats and is clearly election interference,” Johnson wrote Wednesday to Zelensky.
“I demand that you immediately fire Ukraine’s Ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova,” he added, writing that she can no longer “fairly and effectively serve as a diplomat in this country.”
A spokesperson for the Ukrainian Embassy in the United States did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Democrats dismissed Johnson and Comer’s comments as another instance of the GOP turning their back on an important U.S. ally.
“As President Zelenskyy fights for freedom and the rule of law on behalf of democracies around the world, Donald Trump and his craven MAGA followers side time and again with Vladimir Putin,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the Oversight panel, said in a statement.
Zelensky’s visit was described by Pennsylvania as him making “a special trip to the Keystone State to visit the Pennsylvania workers who are playing a vital role in Ukraine’s defense.”
Zelensky’s visit to Pennsylvania mirrors a trip to Utah in July, where he met with Republican Gov. Spencer Cox and signed a memorandum of understanding with state leaders.
In both cases, state leaders expressed support for Ukraine in its battle against Russia.
While Republicans have fixated on Zelensky’s visit to the Pennsylvania, it’s an interview the Ukrainian president did that initially sparked GOP criticism.
In an interview with The New Yorker published Sunday, Zelensky called Vance “too radical” due to his views on Ukraine, and suggested the senator study World War II. Vance has called to end U.S. support for Ukraine, and for Kyiv to cede territory to Russia in a peace deal.
“The idea that the world should end this war at Ukraine’s expense is unacceptable,” Zelensky said in the interview.
Zelensky struck a more cautious tone toward Trump, saying they have had good conversations on the phone but that the GOP presidential candidate “doesn’t really know how to stop the war, even if he might think he knows how.”
Comer’s letter asks the White House, Justice Department officials and the Pentagon to provide details about any coordination about the trip, accusing the Biden administration of having “orchestrated and used government resources to make possible this apparent campaign event that resulted in the potential interference in a federal election.”
Comer’s probe comes after Rep. Lance Gooden (R-Texas) led eight other Republicans in demanding an investigation from the inspectors general of both the Justice Department and Department of Defense seeking all federal resources dedicated to the visit.
House Oversight Democrats suggested Comer’s new probe reflects a broader effort to undermine Ukraine.
“America didn’t forget that Chairman Comer called Ukraine a foreign adversary and used the Committee to repeat and amplify Russian propaganda. It is sadly unsurprising he is once again working to undermine Ukraine’s efforts to repel Putin’s lawless, bloody, and unjustified invasion.”
“Chairman Comer obviously does not understand nor appreciate the concept of an ‘ally.’ America is an ally of Ukraine, and Ukraine is an ally of America,” Raskin said.
“Ukraine is in the middle of a war with Russia thrust upon it by Vladimir Putin’s filthy imperialist and irredentist invasion. The American people have invested billions of dollars to help Ukraine defend its sovereignty and democracy because we share common interests and something called values.”
Updated 7:04 p.m.
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