WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Representatives Adam Smith (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, and Gregory W. Meeks (D-NY), Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, released the following statement condemning Special Envoys Jared Kushner’s and Steve Witkoff’s ongoing efforts to undermine Ukraine and the NATO alliance.
“Ukraine continues to inflict massive casualties on the Russian Army and cripple the Russian economy, while U.S. Special Envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff continue to undermine Ukraine’s ability to negotiate a just and lasting settlement in Putin’s brutal and illegal invasion. As if that weren’t bad enough, they are also undermining NATO, the most successful alliance in history. Their parroting of Kremlin talking points on renegotiating European security and possibly pulling back from Eastern Europe is totally unacceptable to the continued viability of NATO and the national security of the United States.
“This is in addition to the constant pressure from Kushner and Witkoff for Kyiv to surrender sovereign Ukrainian territory, including its fortress belt – key defensive positions preventing a rapid advance westward. They have repeatedly bypassed, ignored, and undercut the U.S. Intelligence Community and State Department. Their Trumpian transactional approach, in which they are treating a nation’s fight for survival like a real estate deal, threatens global stability. They and Trump are working for Putin, not for the benefit of the people of the United States.
“They are also ignoring the message those same American people just delivered to the White House and the Republican Party. The voters have made clear, to a historic degree, their repudiation of the Trump Administration’s blatant corruption and laser focus on self-enrichment ahead of the American interest. Even before this repudiation, Congress and the American people overwhelmingly supported Ukraine and NATO, not only because it is smart, but because it is right. Congress and the American People also understand that Putin responds only to strength. Negotiating away all the pressure from him while undercutting Ukraine has not and will never be successful. Pushing a post-war security agreement that seeks to destroy NATO’s post-Cold War mandate of a ‘Europe whole, free, and at peace,’ benefits only Russia and threatens grave consequences for us and the rest of the world.”
“The Administration has claimed to be in favor of ‘peace through strength.’ The president should inform Kushner and Witkoff that surrendering in Ukraine and appeasing Putin will result in neither peace nor strength.”
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