Former President Trump questioned why European countries weren’t increasing aid to Ukraine, but the foreign aid package proposed by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has drawn pushback from some House Republicans. There was no mention of it.
“Why isn’t Europe giving more money to help Ukraine? Why isn’t the US putting more than $100 billion into the Ukraine war than Europe, yet there is an ocean between us? There he is!” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Thursday during the third day of his hush money trial in New York City.
“Why can’t Europe match or even match the resources America puts into helping countries in dire need?” he continued. “As everyone agrees, the survival and strength of Ukraine should be much more important to Europe than to us, but it is also important to us! Move Europe!”
According to a tracker maintained by the World Economic Institute, total European aid to Ukraine is actually exceeded U.S. aid.However, much of this comes in the form of financial and humanitarian aid. The US has provided significantly more military aid to Ukraine, and trackers show that Europe would need to double the pace of arms aid to fully replace US commitments.
Trump’s post comes amid divisions within House Republicans over a series of bills aimed at aiding Ukraine, Israel and allies in the Indo-Pacific region.
By splitting the components of the Senate-passed foreign aid package into three separate bills and two supplemental bills that include provisions on border security and other foreign aid proposals favored by Republicans, Johnson has appealed to conservatives. trying to appease his critics.
But the decision to move forward infuriated Trump supporters such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who threatened to remove Johnson from the speakership if he pushed through with the Ukraine aid bill.
Greene and another Trump supporter, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), occupied Trump’s Truth social posts and claimed that Trump was. oppose the foreign aid lawHowever, the former president’s office did not take a position on the issue.
When he met with Johnson last week at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago mansion, Johnson suggested Republicans would approve additional aid to Ukraine in the form of loans.
“We’re looking at it right now, they’re talking about it, and we’re looking at providing it in the form of a loan rather than just a gift,” Trump said at the time.
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