Republican Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio accused elites of “salivating” over the Ukraine war as a means to accumulate more power.
The United States has sent over $100 billion in aid to Ukraine since Russia invaded on Feb. 24, 2022, and announced in January they would send 31 M1 Abrams main battle tanks after announcing a battery of MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missiles would be provided in December. The Biden administration announced plans to primarily send Ukraine M864 155-millimeter artillery shells, known as Dual-Purpose Improved Conventional Munitions (DPICM), which dispense smaller explosive weapons over an area to attack personnel and vehicles. (RELATED: ‘Funding Both Sides Of The War’: Ted Cruz Rips Biden, Says $6 Billion Will Help Iran Build Drones)
“We are going to find out that between Clintons and a number of private equity firms and hyper global corporations, you’re going to find people have gotten rich from this and it’s really sad and it’s really despicable because the Ukrainians didn’t invite the war on themselves and I have disagreements with their leadership and not the people but you can almost see the elites of Washington and New York City salivating over acquiring more power and more money for themselves on the backs of the Ukrainian war effort,” Vance told Fox News host Jesse Watters. “Anybody who doesn’t see this for what it is is blind to reality.”
WATCH:
Vance also took issue with statements by a Ukrainian spokesperson, Sarah Ashton-Cirillo, saying that Ashton-Cirillo threatened Americans who expressed doubts or concerns about sending aid to Ukraine.
“I shockingly learned this is actually a real person who really does purport to represent the Ukrainian military which, of course, is almost entirely funded by the American taxpayer,” Vance said. “Here’s the really crazy thing, Jesse: The original video I was responding to, this person, this Ukrainian spokesperson, says that anybody who engages in Russian propaganda is going to be hunted down literally threating violence against anybody who engages in quote Russian propaganda.”
“But as you know, Jesse, multiple American journalists have been accused of engaging in Russia propaganda and multiple members of the United States Senate have been accused,” Vance said. “So, are we really funding a military that is threatening the free speech rights of people who disagree with the Ukrainian war effort? That is preposterous and gives lie to the idea this is all about freedom and democracy. If it were all about freedom and democracy why are our paid guns threatening the free speech rights of all Americans?”
Ashton-Cirillo denied that the comments in the video Vance referred to were a call for violence or a threat in a post on Twitter.
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