Former President Trump questioned why European countries weren't giving more assistance to Ukraine, but did not comment on a foreign aid package proposed by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) that has caused controversy among 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 while he was at 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 kept by the Institute for the World Economy indicates that total European assistance for Ukraine has actually surpassed U.S. help, although a lot of that comes in the form of financial and humanitarian aid. The United States has given significantly more military aid to Ukraine, with the tracker showing Europe would need to double its rate of arms assistance to fully replace the U.S. commitment.
Trump’s post comes as House Republicans are split over advancing a series of bills that would offer help to Ukraine, Israel and allies in the Indo-Pacific.
Johnson has tried to satisfy his conservative critics by dividing 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 angered 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, although 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.
