Republican Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio said Monday that the latest Senate proposals to provide funding to Ukraine and Israel could trigger impeachment if former President Trump is re-elected in November. insisted.
vance sent a note He told his Senate Republican colleagues that the bill’s language is “embedded” with an “impeachment time bomb” in case Trump tries to cut off funding to Ukraine while he remains president.
“This supplement is an attempt by the foreign policy bloc/deep state to prevent President Trump from pursuing the policies he desires and, if he does, to provide grounds to impeach him and weaken his administration. “Represents an attempt,” Vance wrote in a memo. All Republicans oppose passing the bill.
The proposed aid to Ukraine totals $60 billion, including funding for Israel in its fight against the Palestinian militant group Hamas, humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and funds for U.S. allies in India. It is part of a larger $95.3 billion package that also includes: -Pacific.
In his memo, Vance said the foreign aid bill includes $1.6 billion in foreign military financing for Ukraine and $13.7 billion for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, both of which expire on September 30, 2025. He claimed that there were approximately nine months left until a second term was formed. Mr. Trump.
He pointed to the fact that in December 2019, the then-Democratic House majority impeached former President Trump over his dealings with Ukraine, including his decision to cut off funding to Kiev. The Senate then voted to acquit Trump on impeachment charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress in February 2020.
The Ohio Republican, a staunch ally of President Trump, said that if Trump withdraws or suspends funding for the Ukraine war “to bring the conflict to a peaceful end,” lawmakers will They argued that the president could claim that he violated budget laws, just as he did during the first presidential election. impeachment.
President Trump has repeatedly insisted he can end the war between Ukraine and Russia within 24 hours, and has previously suspended aid to the war-torn country as the conflict approaches its two-year milestone. I’ve been looking for.
The former president slammed the Senate’s foreign aid bill at a weekend rally in South Carolina.
Trump: “They want to give almost $100 billion to several countries” Said At a gathering. “I said, ‘Why are we doing this? If you do that, you’re not giving them $100 billion, you’re giving it “as a loan.” ”
The Senate voted Sunday to move the bill one step closer to final passage, entering its scheduled two-week recess.
The bill comes after the dramatic collapse of a bipartisan border security initiative that fell apart over Republican opposition. President Trump also urged Senate Republicans to oppose what he called a “death wish” policy, which some members said the former president was using as an issue in his campaign against President Biden. denounced.
The final vote to pass the foreign aid bill is expected to take place in the Senate this week.
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