Secretary of State Pompeo's Comments About Ukraine

Floor Speech

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Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, over the weekend, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo cast doubt over American support for our Ukrainian allies when he asked veteran NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly if she thought Americans care about Ukraine and if she could even find it on a map. How insulting.

Pompeo's outburst came after Mary Louise Kelly questioned him about the administration's shameful treatment of our Ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch.

As co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional Ukraine Caucus and representative of a large Ukrainian American population, I am deeply concerned about what Pompeo was insinuating with his comments to NPR that the administration can do whatever it pleases because the American public doesn't care about Ukraine. I couldn't disagree with him more.

Ukraine is the scrimmage line for liberty in Europe. Liberty lovers across the world care about Ukraine because its people are facing down Russian aggression.

Unfortunately, Pompeo's comments reflect a larger pattern of the Trump administration advancing pro-Russian causes.

On Secretary Pompeo's upcoming trip to Ukraine, I would urge him to support liberty in Europe. America and the world paid a heavy price for that.

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