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3 weeks ago
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House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer launched an investigation on Wednesday into Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's recent visit to an ammunition factory in Pennsylvania.
House Republicans have already cried foul on the visit, which Zelenskyy took to thank the workers at a factory that has supplied critical munitions in Ukraine's war with Russia, because several Democrats joined him for a public appearance. Comer took a different tack on Wednesday, instead focusing on Zelenskyy visiting a presidential battleground state.
Defense and State Department officials traveled with Zelenskyy from New Jersey to Pennsylvania. That trip was paid for by DoD, which requested military airlift to facilitate the administration officials’ travel, said Pentagon spokesperson James Adams.
"These officials were conducting official business related to U.S. security assistance to Ukraine, which included a stop at Newark Liberty International Airport, where they linked up with President Zelenskyy before continuing to Wilkes-Barre International Airport in Pennsylvania," Adams said.
Comer sent letters on Wednesday to Austin and Attorney General Merrick Garland and White House counsel Edward Siskel, accusing the administration of having facilitated potential meddling in the 2024 presidential election. Comer attempted to contrast the trip with former President Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial, which focused on his attempt to push Zelenskyy to investigate Joe Biden.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, criticized Comer in a statement, saying his investigation "bizarrely disregards the overwhelming evidence that Donald Trump threatened to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars in military, strategic, and economic assistance ... until President Zelenskyy complied with Trump’s demand that he make a public statement fraudulently declaring that Ukraine was engaged in a criminal investigation of Joe Biden for political corruption."
Read Comer’s letters here:
English (US)