Liz Cheney Slams McCarthy’s ‘Disgraceful’ Pledge to Reconsider Ukraine Aid
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Republican Representative Liz Cheney slammed House minority leader Kevin McCarthy for signaling support for slashing aid to Ukraine in the event of a GOP midterm sweep, and former vice president Mike Pence decried GOP “Putin apologists” who have sympathized with Russia even as it invades a sovereign nation.
“I don’t know that I can say I was surprised, but I think it’s really disgraceful that today Minority Leader McCarthy suggested that if the Republicans get the majority back that we will not continue to provide support for the Ukrainians,” Cheney said at a Harvard Kennedy School event Tuesday.
Her statement was in response to McCarthy’s comment to Punchbowl News Tuesday, in which he said that sending money to Ukraine will be a shrinking priority for many Republicans as the state of the U.S. economy worsens.
“I think people are gonna be sitting in a recession and they’re not going to write a blank check to Ukraine,” McCarthy told the outlet. “They just won’t do it.”
“Ukraine is important, but at the same time it can’t be the only thing [the Biden administration does] and it can’t be a blank check,” he said.
One of only two Republican members on the January 6 select committee investigating the Capitol Riot, Cheney recently lost her primary in Wyoming to MAGA candidate Harriet Hageman, who garnered over 66 percent of the vote to the incumbent’s 29 percent.
“What’s happening in Ukraine today shows that democracy must be better armed than tyranny,” Cheney said.
A growing wing of the GOP has resisted American military and financial intervention in foreign conflicts, including on behalf of Ukraine in its ongoing war with Russia. Cheney represents the contingent that supports providing Ukraine with funding and equipment to help it reconquer its lost territory and defeat Russia.
On Wednesday, Pence took the stage at the Heritage Foundation to warn against the populist camp in the GOP, urging Republicans to remain balanced and anchored by the party’s conservative foundations rather than entertain authoritarianism.
“Today, on the cusp of a new era of Republican leadership … I think we need to chart a course that doesn’t veer off too far in either direction,” Pence said. He said he disagrees with those in the party who want to retreat from the international arena and turn a blind eye to Russian aggression. On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared martial law in the four regions of Ukraine that Russia illegally annexed and authorized regional governors in Russia to assume emergency powers.
“Now, I know there is a rising chorus in our party, including some new voices to our movement, who would have us disengaged with the wider world,” Pence said. “But appeasement has never worked, ever, in history. And now more than ever, we need a conservative movement committed to America’s role as leader of the free world and as a vanguard of American values.”
“As Russia continues its unconscionable war of aggression to Ukraine, I believe that conservatives must make it clear that Putin must stop and Putin will pay,” he said. “There can be no room in the conservative movement for apologists to Putin. There is only room in this movement for champions of freedom.”
