McCarthy shoots down Russian reporter who says he opposes aid to Ukraine
Reese Gorman
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House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said he supports aid to Ukraine and will continue to do so in response to a Russian reporter’s question at a news conference on Monday.
“I vote for aid to Ukraine. I support aid to Ukraine,” McCarthy said at a news conference following his speech to the Knesset, Israel’s legislative body. “I do not support what your country has done to Ukraine. I do not support your killing of the children either.”
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The reporter, from Russian state-owned media outlet RIA Novosti, started his question by saying he knows McCarthy doesn’t “support the current unlimited and uncontrolled supply of weaponry and aid to Ukraine” and asked the speaker if it is “possible in the near future the U.S. policy regarding sending weaponry to Ukraine will change?”
McCarthy rejected the reporter’s characterization of his stance and said he believes Russia “should pull out” of Ukraine and doesn’t think Russia’s invasion of the country is legitimate.
“We will continue to support because the rest of the world sees it just as it is,” he said.
The United States has provided aid to Ukraine since Russia first invaded the country in February 2022.
In the past, McCarthy has said he does not support a “blank check” to Ukraine.
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“Let’s be very clear about what I said: no blank checks, OK? So, from that perspective, I don’t have to go to Ukraine to understand where there’s a blank check or not,” McCarthy told CNN in March. “I will continue to get my briefings and others, but I don’t have to go to Ukraine or Kyiv to see it, and my point has always been, I won’t provide a blank check for anything.”
Members of McCarthy’s Republican caucus, including Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), have called on President Joe Biden to curb sending U.S. aid to Ukraine. In a letter in April, the members expressed concern that “the trajectory of U.S. aid to the Ukrainian war effort threatens further escalation and lacks much-needed strategic clarity.”