Topline
Republican leaders are criticizing Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky for visiting a manufacturing site in Scranton, Pennsylvania, during his trip to the U.S. for the United Nations General Assembly—with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., saying the tour was “clearly a partisan campaign event designed to help Democrats.”
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky meets with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres … [+]
Key Facts
Zelensky visited a manufacturing plant Sunday that makes artillery shells used by Ukraine, where he expressed gratitude to workers there and pursued further collaboration between the Scranton plant and factories in Ukraine.
Zelensky did not comment on the upcoming election at the visit, but Johnson pointed out he was accompanied by “a top political surrogate for Kamala Harris”—likely referring to Gov. Josh Shapiro—and no Republicans, and alleged it was a political stop as Pennsylvania is “a politically contested battleground state.”
Johnson called for Zelensky to fire his ambassador to the U.S., Oksana Markarova, who he said organized the trip Johnson described as “a shortsighted and intentionally political move (that) caused Republicans to lose trust in” the ambassador’s ability to “fairly and effectively” be a diplomat.
Speaking at a rally in Pennsylvania on Sunday—the same day Zelensky toured the artillery factory— Trump said Zelensky “wants them [the Democrats] to win this election so badly,” adding: “But I would do it differently, I will work out peace.”
House Committee on Oversight and Accountability chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., announced Wednesday he was opening an investigation into taxpayer resources funding the trip to “determine whether the Biden-Harris Administration attempted to use a foreign leader to benefit Vice President Harris’s presidential campaign,” which he alleged would be an abuse of power.
At least two other Republican lawmakers—Sen. John Thune, S.D., and Sen. John Cornyn (Texas)—have suggested Zelensky “should stay out of American politics,” Politico reported.
Forbes has reached out to the Embassy of Ukraine in the U.S. for comment.
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Why Was Zelensky In Pennsylvania?
Zelensky said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, earlier this week that he visited the site—which he said produces 155 mm artillery shells—on Sunday to express gratitude to the employees and plant and to reach agreements to “expand cooperation between Pennsylvania and our Zaporizhzhia,” a city in Ukraine. The Scranton plant is one of few facilities that make the artillery shells Ukraine has been getting from the U.S., and Zelensky thanked the workers for making them and emphasized they need more, the Associated Press reported.
Key Background
Zelensky is in the U.S. for the UN General Assembly and will meet with Biden and Harris, along with other lawmakers on the Hill, on Thursday. Zelensky said on X the main objective of his trip is “to strengthen Ukraine and protect all our people” as the war nears its third year. While speaking to the UN on Wednesday, he asked other countries and leaders to put pressure on Russia and not seek “a lull” rather than a “real, just peace,” the AP reported. Trump has criticized the Biden administration for continuing to support Ukraine in its war, saying the war wouldn’t have happened if Trump had been elected in 2020 and vowing to end it before he is sworn in if he is the president-elect this November.
Chief Critic
Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., said in a post on X that Zelensky visited “to thank Pennsylvania workers for helping defend democracy,” adding: “Attempts to smear his visit to our Commonwealth are an insult and a disgrace.”
Tangent
Zelensky also angered some Republicans when he made comments about Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, earlier this week. Zelensky told the New Yorker in a piece published Monday that “Trump doesn’t really know how to stop the war even if he might think he knows,” and he said Vance is “too radical.” Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., told Punchbowl News “I don’t mind him going to a munitions plant thanking people for helping Ukraine. But I think his comments about JD Vance and President Trump were out of bounds.” Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., told Punchbowl he didn’t have an issue with the visit and he expected that if Republicans “were in similar circumstances, we’d do the same thing.”
