FIRST ON FOX – Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy blasted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy over his request for extra funding from the U.S. with a view to conduct its personal election throughout its conflict with Russia, calling it a “poll field shakedown.”
“Zelenskyy’s veiled risk to forgo democratic elections in Ukraine until the American folks foot the invoice and cough up one other $135 million in funding represents a brand new stage of extortion of america,” Ramaswamy mentioned in a press launch first obtained by Fox Information Digital.
“Our nation is being duped by a frontrunner in Ukraine prepared to sacrifice his personal nation’s credibility as a ‘democracy’ in a gambit to safe much more cash from U.S. taxpayers. That is fallacious.”
DECONSTRUCTING THE FIRESTORM OF VIVEK RAMASWAMY’S ISRAEL COMMENTS
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy slammed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy over what he calls a “poll field shakedown” of the U.S. ( Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg through Getty Photographs)
The political outsider mentioned that whereas Russian President Vladimir Putin has “acted in a craven method, however that shouldn’t trick the U.S. institution into adopting the false narrative that Zelenskyy is a paragon of democratic management. He isn’t.”
“In a span of simply two years, Zelenskyy has made strikes that bear a putting resemblance to the ways employed by Vladimir Putin: Zelenskyy’s actions embody the banning of 11 opposition events and the consolidation of all state media right into a single entity. These actions not solely mirror Putin’s refusal to register opposition events but additionally intensive authorities management over the media panorama,” Ramaswamy mentioned. “We have now greater than fulfilled U.S. commitments to Ukraine within the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, at the same time as we now have badly violated James Baker’s February 1990 ‘Not One Inch’ dedication to the Soviet Union’s then-President Mikhail Gorbachev about limiting NATO enlargement.”
CLIP OF 18-YEAR-OLD RAMASWAMY ASKING 2004 HOPEFUL AL SHARPTON ABOUT LACK OF ‘POLITICAL EXPERIENCE’ GOES VIRAL
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is requesting further support from U.S. and Europe to fund his nation’s upcoming election. (Mykola Tys/World Photographs Ukraine through Getty Photographs)
If elected president Ramaswamy vowed the U.S. “will likely be Uncle Sucker no extra.”
“With over $135 billion in funding already offered, Ukraine ought to simply have the ability to allocate 0.1 % of that to pay for his or her election,” Ramaswamy asserted. “After all, the mainstream media and the institution will say that any cash the U.S. sends to help Ukraine is strictly ‘itemized and audited’ in order that it may well’t be used that manner. It is a joke funnier than any Zelenskyy might have written in his prior profession as a comic. Don’t neglect that in June, the Pentagon itself found an ‘accounting error’ that artificially created an additional $6.2 billion for Ukraine with out Congressional approval. The notion that every one cash and navy gear being despatched to Ukraine is being fastidiously tracked is deeply dishonest. People deserve the TRUTH.”
RAMASWAMY ENDS RAP BATTLE WITH EMINEM, WILL STOP PERFORMING SONG ON CAMPAIGN TRAIL: ‘I’LL RESPECT HIS WISHES’
GOP hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy has been an outspoken critic of the U.S. funding that has gone to Ukraine throughout its conflict towards Russia. (Al Drago/Bloomberg through Getty Photographs)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Ramaswamy’s condemnation of Zelenskyy’s request comes after Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. expressed his personal want for Ukraine to conduct its personal election subsequent yr throughout his go to to the war-torn nation.
“We’d like an election in Ukraine subsequent yr. I need to see this nation have a free and honest election even whereas it’s beneath assault,” Graham mentioned recalling his dialog with Zelenskyy.
In a latest interview, Zelenskyy mentioned “I gave Lindsey a quite simple reply in a short time” and estimated that elections throughout peacetime price 5 billion hryvnia, or $135 million, saying, “I do not understand how a lot is required in wartime,”
“So I advised him that if the US and Europe present monetary help…” Zelenskyy mentioned about his dialog with Graham, including “I cannot take cash from weapons and provides it to elections. And that is stipulated by the legislation.”
Get the most recent updates from the 2024 marketing campaign path, unique interviews and extra at our Fox Information Digital election hub
