With the Russian-Ukraine war nearing a year of fighting, the nature of the Biden administration's funding of Ukraine draws concern from Republicans. Citing the fact that Ukraine is a very corrupt country, both Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL-7) and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL-1) independently agree proper auditing and oversight is necessary, with Gaetz saying not another dollar for Ukraine entirely.
Rep. Mills makes his case in a recent appearance on One America News, referring to his first Congressional press conference about the same situation back in November.
"One of the first things I did was I immediately approach GOP conference leadership and say, "before I'm willing to pledge another dollar, I want 100% accountability and transparency for the American people so that they know exactly where our money is gone," said Rep. Mills
Continuing, Mills said the conflict has "been slow-rolling since 2014" and proper response should be to invoke the 1994 Budapest memorandum and international treaty violation. Additionally, using these same countries as energy surplus is "a foreign policy faux pas." Mills also says Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea are acting as aggressively as they are is because they saw the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal as a signal of weakness.
"If you don't handle Ukraine right, Taiwan is next," Mills warns.
He clarifies he is not necessarily opposed to aiding Ukraine, but to write "blank checks" to arguably one of the "most corrupt nation in the world."
"What I'm against is they way that we have frivolously and irresponsibly continue to write blank checks that has gone to the most corrupt nation in the world, and allowed them to continue to funnel hundreds of millions of dollars potentially into FTX, potentially the Democratic Party, potentially into the pockets of Ukrainians. So the American people need transparency and that's what I'm going to stand for," added Mills.
Tonight on Real America! 🇺🇸 Rep. Cory Mills of Florida weighs in on the left’s ‘blank check’ policy of funding to Ukraine. | @DanNewsManBall @CoryMillsFL | #RealAmerica #Conservative #TalkShow #OAN #GOP pic.twitter.com/BOTZDKiBFF
— One America News (@OANN) January 25, 2023
Meanwhile, Gaetz offers a statement to Fox Digital, where he says that despite Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's efforts to purge corrupt officials, "There is no amount of ‘purges’ that will suddenly make me support giving money to Ukraine."
Citing the same fact of Ukraine's infamy as the most corrupt country in Europe, Gaetz says "we don’t even give money to American agencies without oversight, so why would we do the same with Ukraine?"
Gaetz adds that he is "very concerned" about the lack of end-to-end monitoring of military equipment, instead "trusting the assertions of Ukrainians, the likes of which were fired today."
He summarizes his take in a tweet saying "there is no amount of "purges" that will suddenly make me support giving money to Ukraine. Ukraine has been corrupt for decades. We don’t even give money to American agencies without oversight, so why would we do the same with Ukraine?"
There is no amount of "purges" that will suddenly make me support giving money to Ukraine.
Ukraine has been corrupt for decades.
We don’t even give money to American agencies without oversight, so why would we do the same with Ukraine?https://t.co/TtU7PsKNQf
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) January 24, 2023
