House Dem Tells Fox News Trump is Acting Like Tony Soprano Toward Ukraine

Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) told Fox News on Sunday that President Donald Trump’s policy toward Ukraine looked “like an episode of The Sopranos.”

The Connecticut Democrat joined Fox News Sunday where he told anchor Shannon Bream that asking Ukraine for rare earth minerals in exchange for protection from Russia was akin to a New Jersey shakedown.

Trump has asked for the rights to some of Ukraine’s vast natural resources as he attempts to broker a peace deal to end the war with Russia. CNN reported:

The US is trying to gain access to Ukraine’s critical minerals and other resources as part of wider negotiations aimed at ending the war in Ukraine. In return, Ukraine has been pushing for security guarantees, with Kyiv not only keen to see the return of lost territory but protection against a possible future Russian invasion.

Ukraine was not invited to talks between the US and Russia in Saudi Arabia and this week President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump have been locked in an escalating war of words.

Himes ripped the Trump administration for asking for something in return for keeping Russian troops off Ukrainian soil.

Bream asked him, “Should the US Have some kind of guarantee or return on the billions of taxpayer dollars that have been given to that complex?” Himes replied:

Shannon, I have two problems with that concept. One, it just looks like an episode of The Sopranos, right? Give us your minerals or we are not going to help you fight a bloodied butcher. I mean, is this really what we want the greatest country in history to be known for? For like, you know, some mafia thing? We’ve always stood with the good guys. We stayed with Churchill against Hitler and World War I we stood with the good guys.

Even when we have gotten it wrong, in Vietnam we were standing with the good guys against Viet Cong. Iraq we were going after Saddam Hussein, Now this present is standing with the bad guy, he’s saying Zelensky is the problem when Zelensky – with very few resources – is trying to stand up for democracy against a totalitarian butcher.

Himes concluded, “And now you are talking about the real possibility that American troops get involved in something that was facilitated by the mafia-like activities of Donald Trump.”

Watch above via Fox News.