Trump asks why Europe isn’t giving Ukraine more aid as Johnson presses forward
Former President Trump questioned why European nations weren’t providing more support to Ukraine, but stopped short of weighing in on a foreign aid package proposed by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) that has sparked outcry from some House Republicans.
“Why isn’t Europe giving more money to help Ukraine? Why is it that the United States is over $100 Billion Dollars into the Ukraine War more than Europe, and we have an Ocean between us as separation!” Trump wrote Thursday on Truth Social as he attended the third day of his hush money trial in New York City.
“Why can’t Europe equalize or match the money put in by the United States of America in order to help a Country in desperate need?” he continued. “As everyone agrees, Ukrainian Survival and Strength should be much more important to Europe than to us, but it is also important to us! GET MOVING EUROPE!”
A tracker maintained by the Institute for the World Economy shows that total European aid for Ukraine has actually overtaken U.S. assistance, though much of that is in the form of financial and humanitarian aid. The United States has provided significantly more military aid to Ukraine, with the tracker showing Europe would have to double its pace of arms assistance to fully replace the U.S. commitment.
Trump’s post comes as House Republicans are divided over moving forward with a series of bills that would provide aid to Ukraine, Israel and allies in the Indo-Pacific.
Johnson has attempted to placate his conservative critics by splitting the components of a Senate-passed foreign aid package into three separate pieces, as well as two additional bills that include provisions on border security and other foreign aid proposals favored by Republicans.
But the decision to move forward has outraged Trump allies such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who has threatened to oust Johnson from the Speakership if he goes ahead with a Ukraine aid bill.
Greene and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), another Trump ally, seized on Trump’s Truth Social post to claim he was opposing the foreign aid legislation, though the former president’s post did not take a position on the matter.
During a meeting last week with Johnson at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, the former president signaled an openness to Republicans approving additional aid for Ukraine if it came in the form of a loan.
“We’re looking at it right now, and they’re talking about it, and we’re thinking about making it in the form of a loan instead of just a gift,” Trump said at the time.
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