MAGA firebrand Marjorie Taylor Greene warned President Donald Trump against agreeing to give security guarantees to Ukraine as he presses for a peace deal.
What those security guarantees would look like has not yet been fully worked out, but the right-wing Georgia congresswoman rejected the idea that the U.S. should issue assurances that could put the U.S. on the hook.
“It doesn’t make sense to say Ukraine can never join NATO, but yet here we are, the United States, the most powerful country in the world, we are going to give you Article 5, a guaranteed security agreement,” Greene said.
“Why do they deserve it?” Greene asked.
The close Trump ally made the comments during an interview for conservative podcaster Megyn Kelly’s show, which taped on Monday.
The president did not rule out putting U.S. troops on the ground in Ukraine when asked about it during his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday.
Trump has since ruled out putting U.S. troops on the ground in Ukraine as a security guarantee to deter Russia in the future. Still, the White House did not dismiss other measures as it looks to end the war after Russia invaded.
“The president has definitely stated U.S. boots will not be on the ground in Ukraine, but we can certainly help in coordination and perhaps provide other means of security guarantees to our European allies,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday.
“The president understands security guarantees are crucially important to ensure a lasting peace, and he has directed his national security team to coordinate with our friends in Europe,” she said, adding they are working on a framework.
It remains to be seen exactly how the U.S. will be involved. Leavitt did not rule out U.S. air support.
“That was something the president mentioned on his interview this morning. It is an option and a possibility,” Leavitt said. “I won’t rule out anything as far as military options that the president has at his disposal.”
During his interview on Fox & Friends, Trump said there would not be U.S. troops on the ground, but he signaled the U.S. would support European allies there.
“We’re willing to help them with things, especially, probably, if you could talk about by air, because nobody has the kind of stuff we have,” Trump said.
During her interview with Kelly, Greene said she has put a lot of “faith and hope” in the president ending the conflict, but she also blasted the U.S. funding the war in Ukraine.
The conservative congresswoman questioned why the U.S. should make commitments to countries to end wars around the world, noting not just the conflict in Ukraine but also the war in Gaza.
She argued that the American people are against funding foreign wars or sending U.S. troops into foreign countries to protect their borders.
Greene said more broadly that the American people want “completely out of it” as they struggle with the costs of everyday life.
Her comments came after special envoy Steve Witkoff said following Trump’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, that Russia had signaled it would agree to some kind of NATO-like Article 5 protections for Ukraine as part of a deal to end the war, but Ukraine could not join the alliance.
Article 5 refers to the collective defense clause of the NATO treating.
Another close Trump ally Steve Bannon also slammed the idea questioning how signing on to Ukraine security guarantees is “America First.”
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