Sen Paul says Ukraine aid package would ‘tie the hands’ of future administrations
Sen. Rand Paul agrees with Sen. J.D. Vance’s memo that Ukraine aid package could handcuff Trump if he wins 2024 presidential election
By Published February 12, 2024 8:03pm EST
Senate breaks filibuster to advance $95B foreign aid bill
Fox News senior congressional correspondent Chad Pergram has the latest on the Senate’s foreign aid package on ‘Fox News Live.’
Several conservatives agree with Sen. JD Vance’s memo circulated early Monday that there’s a “hidden” clause in the national security supplemental bill that he believes could be grounds to impeach former President Donald Trump from office if elected to office later this year.
Vance sent a memo to GOP lawmakers highlighting that the bill, which would send billions of federal dollars to Ukraine, assures the delivery of funding through September 2025. Trump, however, has vowed to end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours of gaining office, which would also end funding.
Vance’s memo claimed that the supplemental bill “represents an attempt by the foreign policy blob/deep state to stop President Trump from pursuing his desired policy, and if he does so anyways, to provide grounds to impeach him and undermine his administration,” and he urged Republicans to block its passage.
SEN. VANCE MEMO WARNS GOP COLLEAGUES OF ‘SYSTEMIC FAILURES’ IN US AID TO UKRAINE
Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, warned his Republican colleagues that the proposed Ukraine aid bill could be used to impeach former President Trump if he wins re-election in November. (Getty Images)
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky, said he supported Vance’s memo on Monday, arguing that Democrats are “setting up” for a possible Trump presidential win.
“They’re locking in foreign aid that will even tie the hands of the next president,” Paul told Fox News Digital in an interview. “So, I think it’s a terrible idea. But also, if the next President were to try to have a different policy, you can see the Democrats again starting an impeachment.”
“I think they’re going to try to impeach him before he gains office now, and that’s exactly what this is,” he said.
Sen. Rand Paul speaks during the COVID Federal Response Hearing on Capitol Hill on June 16, 2022, in Washington, DC. (Joe Raedle)
Mark Paoletta, former Office of Management and Budget (OMB) General Counsel during the Trump Administration, told Fox News Digital in a statement that the clause in the bill text is an “effort to inappropriately tie President Trump’s hands in his next term by locking in Ukraine funding for multiple years.”
“In a presidential election year, Congress should not be making long-term funding commitments, particularly in foreign policy, that will attempt to tie the hands of the next commander in chief,” Paoletta said. “President Trump had every right to pause the Ukraine funding for about 60 days, given his concerns about corruption in Ukraine and how best to spend those funds.”
He added, “As OMB General Counsel, I issued the legal justification to pause the funding, and would do it again today.”
Russ Vought, a former Trump cabinet member, also agreed with Vance’s memo and said in a post on X that Vance is “absolutely right to interpret these Ukraine provisions” in this manner.
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