Posted on 07/16/2022 1:29:28 AM PDT by Ultra Sonic 007
Victoria Spartz took the GOP mantle on aiding Kyiv back in the spring. Now, her fellow lawmakers worry she's undermining the effort.
House Republicans gave Ukraine-born Rep. Victoria Spartz a coveted platform to speak out against Russia’s war. They’re coming to regret that.
Spartz (R-Ind.), who has traveled to Ukraine a half-dozen times since the war began and spoken passionately about the conflict, shocked lawmakers in both parties recently with her intense criticisms of the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and his confidants. She drew a rare rebuke last weekend from the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, which accused her of “trying to earn extra political capital on baseless speculation.”
Inside the House GOP Conference, there’s a widespread fear that her posture is damaging U.S.-Ukraine relations at the worst possible time — and that she’s being played by forces that aim to weaken the Western alliance. GOP national-security hawks also worry that the MAGA wing of their party, where there’s already resistance to supporting Ukraine, will point to Spartz’s comments as justification.
They’re concerned that Spartz’s public break from Zelenskyy — and her corruption accusations about his closest aides — could portend future cracks in U.S. support for Ukraine, especially as the midterm elections approach.
“Her naiveness is hurting our own people,” said a GOP lawmaker who serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, granted anonymity to speak candidly about a colleague. “It is not helpful to what we’re trying to do and I’m not sure her facts are accurate … We have vetted these guys.” The Republican warned that Spartz’s comments could “hurt” the war effort.
Asked for comment on Spartz’s remarks, one senior House Republican who was granted anonymity for the same reason offered a blunt reply: “What the fuck.”
A third House Republican granted anonymity to speak candidly about Spartz said she has a reputation for elbowing her way into briefings and meetings for committees she doesn’t belong to, like the Foreign Affairs panel, where multiple members have tried to address her comments behind closed doors.
The Biden administration is even getting involved — another sign of growing worries that Spartz’s comments may damage cohesion among the Western coalition in defense of Kyiv. A Foreign Affairs Committee aide, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the U.S. intelligence community is planning to brief Spartz about her claims in a classified setting Friday morning.
While Zelenskyy’s political opponents have openly cheered Spartz, domestic political squabbles are largely getting sidelined while the country fights for its survival. Western nations’ longstanding concerns about corruption in Ukraine, an element of former President Donald Trump’s first impeachment, have also been shelved in the interest of fostering both domestic and international unity against Russia’s invasion.
Spartz is dredging up old dirt on Zelenskyy and his advisers at a time when Ukraine’s future as an independent nation may depend on allying with him, her detractors say.
“I don’t share her criticisms,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who has worked with Spartz on Ukraine-related legislation. “I believe that the Zelenskyy government and the Ukrainian people have risen to the moment. It is in our national security interest to stand with the Ukrainian people and their elected leadership.”
In statements and interviews, Spartz has pushed for better oversight of the U.S. weaponry flowing into Ukraine — an issue that has attracted bipartisan scrutiny.
But she has also accused Zelenskyy of “playing politics” and not “understanding” the seriousness of the conflict. And she has launched a crusade against his chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, accusing the president’s top aide of being in the pocket of Russia.
In the process of speaking out, she’s raised years-old allegations, many of which Zelenskyy’s political foes have lobbed in the past without factual basis. She has said publicly that she believes Yermak should be fired for inhibiting the war effort — even as others say Spartz’s own actions are undeniably impeding it.
Spartz declined to answer questions on the record for this story, but her office provided a written statement to POLITICO that defends her criticisms of the Zelenskyy government. (She has previously put the onus on Yermak and others to prove her wrong.)
And she’s showing no sign of regret.
“Growing up in Ukraine and visiting six times since the war started, I have a comprehensive understanding of the situation on the ground,” Spartz said. “The stakes are too high to be reactive without deliberation — as intended for our institution.”
As she goes after Zelenskyy’s top aides, the first-term Republican has previously generated headlines for her poor staff retention rate. Current and former aides described to POLITICO a hostile work environment in which Spartz repeatedly berates her staffers.
The 43-year-old’s Zelenskyy-gadfly persona this summer marks a sharp turnaround from her message on March 1, when she made an impassioned and tearful plea for the Biden administration to respond more forcefully to the crisis unfolding in her motherland. As Spartz described the struggle of some family members to survive bloody Russian assaults, House GOP leaders and dozens of rank-and-file members stood behind her, dressed in blue and yellow to match Ukraine’s flag, nodding in agreement.
Four-plus months later, there are far fewer signals in the conference that she is an authoritative voice on the matter. Spartz’s latest posture is privately befuddling many of her colleagues, though none of them want to publicly rebuke a colleague over Ukraine — particularly given her personal ties to the situation — as the Russian attack itself becomes more politically thorny within the GOP.
Spartz has some defenders among House Republicans, but many of them sidestepped her remarks to argue generally that she is well-intentioned and passionate about the issue.
“Victoria has been a strong advocate of getting the people of Ukraine the tools they need to push back against Putin,” House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) said during a press conference this week. “She’s very passionate about this. And at the end of the day, I know from all the conversations I’ve had with her that her heart and soul is tied to helping the people of Ukraine push back Putin’s military assault on that country.”
Spartz has refused to name the sources for her claims of improper behavior by Yermak and Zelenskyy’s government. Meanwhile, they continue to prompt significant pushback not only from Ukrainian officials, but from Americans like former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul, who is working directly with Yermak on sanctions policy.
“Yermak most certainly does not strike me as being pro-Russian. He is stridently anti-Putin and his barbaric regime,” McFaul said in an interview. “If so, why would he be encouraging our group to think of new and creative ways to sanction Russians? And why then would the Russian government sanction many members of our working group, including even my research assistant?”
Christopher Miller contributed to this report.
It seems that her biggest sin isn't being pro-Russia (which she clearly isn't, going by her rhetoric), but anti-Zelensky.
It is apparent, (if the reporting is accurate) that the RINO’s biggest concern is, that President Trump supporters who are against US involvement in the BS will be given aid in their lack of desire to be involved in that crap, and when President Trump wins in 2024 and his endorsed candidates win in November 2022 the US involvement in that war will end.
It seems the UniParty Warmongers are fearful our participation in that conflict may end and this woman is contributing to that possibility.
We’ve confiscated some Russian oligarchs’ property. We should do likewise with Zelensky and his cronnies. The money should then be used to help Ukraine’s poor refugees, not its rich oligarchs.
Of course Lindsey Graham takes a liking to Zelensky and will defend his behavior.
Does anyone think there is something wrong with this picture?
I suspect that this Spatz woman knows what she is talking about. There are many reasons to believe that Zelensky is not really serious because all he does is ask for more money; takes action to consolidate his totalitarian power like the media; and put his political enemies in jail. He, like Putin, is a bad actor.
Where are the negotiations about a peace settlement? Does the USA not want peace? Where is the USA leadership in suing for peace?
I’ve never heard of her either but she’s right.
This little thug is demanding $9 billion A MONTH from We The People.
Little weasel ought to be shot.
There’s always two sides to a story. But since the beginning of this conflict all the info in the U.S. media has been virulently anti-Putin and pro Zelensky. Like it’s out of a CIA playbook.
Like the rumors being spread about Putin having some fatal illness. If you’ve ever listened to some of his public dialogs and commentary over the years he is not irrational by any means and is a thoughtful man.
And in Russia he has a lot of support from the population for his policies. But we here are not allowed to be experts in Russian-Ukrainian issues, so it becomes easy to lockstep condemn him.
Nothing in life is ever that clear cut. But you have to wonder how many Americans really understand this. Putin is a nationalist writ large and I think nationalism has become anathema in America where we have a native population being deliberately displaced by a migrant tsunami coming over the Southern border.
How ironic that they pay us back this way by exporting all of their disaffected populations who do not believe in birth control that used to be the source for all of their revolutionary armies for the past 75 years.
So think about this—when was the last time South America had a real revolution? Used to be almost every other day. And then think about the billions in U.S. taxpayer dollars the U.S. government squandered in aid to these back-stabbing countries over the years to, in the end, have them ship all their welfare classes over to the U.S. to be coddled and placated by our entitlement programs.
If Putin were here he would not tolerate for one second the literal financial and demographic war these South American countries are waging against US sovereignty with great aid and assistance from their fellow-travelers in the U.S. government.
He would have put a stop to this blatant assault on U.S. sovereignty a long time ago in an effective manner. And he would not have needed billions of dollars to build politically correct “walls” to do it with.
I believe this is what is galvanizing the left and the media here in its quest to make everyone of us rant and rave anti-Russia to the point where it’s “love and support anybody but Putin, just anybody”.
Let’s guess a the anonymous republican congressional sources:
1. Lizard cheney
2. Adam kinzinger
There are not two sides, there is a thug and a victim.
The Zelensky critics remind me of Alvin Bragg, who jailed the NY bodega owner for killing his attacker.
Seems to me that she’d know better what the real low down on zelensky is than a bunch of Republican lawmakers.
So the republicans “vetted” someone? Is that supposed to give me confidence that all is kosher?
Zelensky is in bed with the Bidens, deep state, RATs, and RINOs. He’s their Chief Money Launderer, for Pete’s sake. He should be criticized. Often.
LOL, Zelensky is just another corrupt Ukrainian leader? I'm shocked to hear this, shocked.
So Putin is a thoughtful man? The man who says “Russia knows no borders” is KGB to the bone. He is the ultimate Soviet nostalgia man. But he is also a greedy corrupt politician. From sources such as Forbes and Elin Musk we can estimate Putin’s net worth at over 1000 times that of Zelensky’s. When Russia needed examples of peaceful examples of executive power transfers, Putin set himself up in power in perpetuity. His land grabs from the Republic of Georgia and Ukraine prove him one of history’s infamous war criminals. The video of Putin raising a little boy’s shirt and kissing his chest point to other types of arrogant and perverted behavior as well.
He is a Klaus Schwab, globalist elitist architect of the Great Rest, stooge as well.
Link please.
Buzz off, NeoCon.
Why is someone hired and paid to represent Indiana U.S.A. going to Ukraine six times in three months?
Does she leave with one suitcase and return with three?
The people of Crimea and the Donbas area were not even allowed to vote.
I'm sure there are more Ukees who wish that they had never gained their independence. They've been in a worse mess ever since.
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