The US House of Representatives recently voted on a resolution to stand in support of the NATO alliance in the midst of the ongoing war in Ukraine, with 63 Republicans voting against it. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy refused to condemn the 63 members of his party for voting against the resolution.
Speaking on Fox News, McCarthy was pressed by guest host Mike Emmanuel on whether he thought 63 of his fellow Republicans in the House were wrong to vote against the resolution supporting NATO. McCarthy said that there has always been a support for NATO, but did not condemn his colleagues for voting against the measure to affirm.
“No, there’s strong support for NATO moving forward,” said McCarthy. “Always has been. NATO is in the process of defending themselves but the one thing we need to make sure is NATO countries spend the money – more than 2 percent.”
“This affects everybody and that’s why we should stand up for Ukraine and provide them the weapons to defend themselves where Putin cannot continue to do these atrocities,” McCarthy added.
McCarthy also recently doubled down on his stance that Washington should have sent military assistance to Ukraine sooner. The House Minority Leader came under fire from many on social media for attempting to criticize the country for not doing more to help Ukraine as it continues to resist Russian forces. McCarthy complained that the US was too slow in sending the needed military assistance to fight back against Russia and called on the country to provide the same support for Taiwan.
Netizens at the time of McCarthy’s previous tweet were quick to point out that the House Minority Leader endorsed former President Donald Trump’s attempt to withhold congressionally approved aid to Ukraine in exchange for a smear on Joe Biden in his refusal to impeach Trump.
“Donald Trump illegally cut off defensive aid to Ukraine to blackmail President Zelenskyy and McCarthy defended it,” said Democratic Rep. Don Beyer.
“Will you ask Taiwan to do you a favor, first?” said one commenter, referencing the now-former president’s infamous phone call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.