Republican lawmaker defies Trump, vows to stand against concession to Putin

We will use every lever and every vote at our disposal, to prevent Communist Dictator Vladimir Putin from being rewarded for his illegal invasion, Fitzpatrick said

By Courtney McBride

 

Congressional Republicans are beginning to put up more forceful resistance to Donald Trump’s sharp turn away from Ukraine’s president, warning that they won’t tolerate concessions to Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

The question is whether any of it will matter.

 

In a post on X on Thursday, Representative Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania took issue with Trump’s criticism of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in recent days and warned that lawmakers from both parties were “ready, willing, and able to do whatever it takes to prevent Communist Dictator Vladimir Putin from being rewarded for his illegal invasion.” 

“We will use every lever and every vote at our disposal, regardless of the personal or political consequences,” Fitzpatrick said. “This matter is that time-sensitive and it is that existential. It is legacy-defining.”

 

 

A member of the House intelligence committee and a co-chair of the Congressional Ukraine caucus, Fitzpatrick represents a suburban Philadelphia swing district.

 

His comments amounted to some of the strongest criticism yet of Trump’s position on Russia and Ukraine from Republicans who have so far declined to leverage their majorities in the House and Senate to demand that he shift course.

 

The president has long pushed for an end to the war, claiming that Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine would not have happened had he been in the White House in February 2022. He escalated that criticism in recent days after Ukraine rejected a US proposal to turn over much of its critical mineral wealth, and called Zelenskiy a “dictator.”

 

Support for Ukraine remains high among Republicans and Democrats alike. Before the president’s comments Wednesday, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican, told Politico that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had made a “rookie mistake” in stating in a speech to Nato that it was unrealistic for Ukraine to restore its pre-2014 borders — or to join Nato.

 

Yet that was mild compared to Fitzpatrick’s statement. 

 

The big unknown is whether Republicans who have so far refused to break with Trump on so many other issues will do so this time. They have put up little opposition over the dismantling of the US Agency for International Development, plans to lay off thousands of members of the federal workforce or Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency gaining access to crucial computer systems across the government.

 

They’ve also approved nominees who drew fierce opposition. Hegseth, for example, had little managerial experience and had been dogged by allegations of alcohol abuse and sexual misconduct, which he denied.

 

“Any enthusiasm that Republicans will stand up to the president or be effective in guiding presidential policy needs to be tempered with the overwhelming votes for Tulsi Gabbard, Kash Patel and Pete Hegseth by Republicans in confirmation,” said Kori Schake, director of foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, referring to the new Director of National Intelligence and director of the FBI.

 

“My hope  — it may be a forlorn one — is that the president’s public statements are negotiation posturing, and that will make an agreement favoring Ukraine’s liberty and independence and self-sufficiency a surprise,” Schake added.