Our own Congressman John Joyce recently traveled to Ukraine

July 9 – Congressman John Joyce just returned from a trip to Ukraine last week.

He said: “I was invited by the Chairman of the Intelligence Committee, Mike Turner, to travel with him to Ukraine to meet with President Zelensky. Also in that meeting was the American Ambassador Bridget Brink. That was a bit of an odd invitation because I think you all know that I voted against the additional funds for Ukraine. I had concerns. I had concerns about how those funds were going to be spent. They sent me to Washington to be a responsible steward of taxpayer dollars, and I felt that without proper accountability of where the money went, I couldn’t vote for that. I couldn’t have you as taxpayers paying for that. So when Mike Turner asked me, when Chairman Turner asked me to accompany them to Ukraine, I thought this was an opportunity to ask questions and to oversee how your and my taxpayer dollars are being spent in Ukraine.”

A small group of four people traveled to Ukraine.

Joyce said he “spoke to Zelensky in private and asked him difficult questions. We went to the presidential palace. Of course, we went through very tight security. There were sandbags tied to the windows, and it was a frank conversation where I asked him what he thought Putin was using for funds, and I wanted him to answer that Putin’s war on Ukraine was being funded by Putin selling energy supplies to Eastern Europe. I wanted him to get to the point where he realized that we can help them by taking out Putin, by getting funds from that energy supply and allowing American energy to be delivered to most of Europe. During those meetings, I made it clear that my goal before we send any more money to Ukraine is to secure our border, our southern border, and to stop the illegal immigrants from continuing to come here. My responsibility is to America first. I made that very clear. It wasn’t always a comfortable conversation, but they invited me to be a part of it and to be able to represent those individuals who felt that we need to see where this money is going to Ukraine. I made it clear in the discussions that I would not vote for additional grants until we see where the money that was going to Ukraine is being spent. There are still a number of issues, including wasteful corruption, that Ukraine needs to address. I was very open in my discussions, and that’s why I voted against it, and I respectfully said to President Zelensky that not everyone present was 100% behind additional money for Ukraine. It was an open conversation, and I think we left that conversation respectful of each other’s point of view. But I have a responsibility to the citizens of Pennsylvania’s 13th Congressional District to secure the sovereignty of the United States, and that means, first and foremost, securing our border.”

Have people in this part of the world thought about the 2024 US presidential election campaign?

Joyce said, “They were very tight-lipped about it. They wanted to hear our side of things, and I, as a supporter of President Trump, was very clear about my side of things, but when I turned the question around and asked them about the implications, there were a lot of watered-down answers. You can’t ignore that. They love the blank check, and that’s my concern, that they were really just looking for financial support, and they don’t care who it comes from, and Biden was certainly a way to get there. It’s disappointing. We see it. I think we know he’s not strong on a domestic level. On an international level, Putin is in control. Xi Jinping is probably drooling over the opportunity to make progress whether North Korea continues to rattle its saber or not. These are all concerns on both a domestic and international level. I think the next four months are going to be very trying until President Trump is back in office. And that worries me, not only because inflation is spiraling out of control and our borders remain open, but also because Russia, China and North Korea might do something about it. I think many of us in Washington have those concerns, and that’s why I overwhelmingly support the re-election of President Trump. I look forward to having a conservative in the White House again.”