Kinzinger Rips McCarthy For ‘Giving Aid and Comfort’ to Russia With Ukraine Comments, Warns GOP to ‘Speak Up Right Now’

Outgoing Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) ripped into House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) on Wednesday and characterized McCarthy’s recent comments suggesting if Republicans retake the House he wouldn’t continue aid to Ukraine as “giving aid and comfort to the enemy.”

Kinzinger spoke with CNN’s John Berman, who asked, “Do you feel surprised that it made news when Kevin McCarthy suggested that Ukrainian aid may not be as forthcoming if Republicans take control of Congress?”

“No, I’m not surprised at all because, look, we’ve had very strong bipartisan support for Ukraine and Ukraine fighting against Russia. What Kevin McCarthy said may be in his mind, he actually did believe that all he was saying is, hey, we want to have some oversight on this,” Kinzinger replied, referencing McCarthy saying Tuesday aid “can’t be a blank check.”

“But what he did was give a really strong I mean, I guarantee you, first off, you know, our evening friends on maybe a different news network are going to be talking about this constantly. Folks over at Russia are going to be talking about this constantly on RT. You’re giving aid and comfort to the enemy, intentionally or unintentionally,” he continued, indirectly mentioning Fox News hosts like Tucker Carlson.

“And there are a lot of people, frankly, in the world that are worried about what a Republican majority could do, not because of the majority of Republicans, a majority of Republicans support Ukraine, but because, you know, if it’s a ten vote majority and people like Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has made it clear that, you know, Vladimir Putin is basically some defender of Christianity, has her way, it would be pretty tough to get stuff through Congress,” Kinzinger concluded.

“Do you think that those groups are having an influence on McCarthy when it comes to Ukraine?” Berman followed up.

“Oh, for sure. I mean, once again, Kevin may not have changed his view on Ukraine, but he is out there trying to sound his whole point. And going out and giving that interview is to try to assuage those folks and try to assuage the intense, intense kind of members of the party that he knows he’s going to need to be speaker. I think yesterday or two days ago, Marjorie Taylor Greene had made an offhand comment about how if Kevin wants to make the base happy, he’s going to have to give her a lot of power in the next Congress. She’s actually probably right,” he continued, adding:

That’s what’s probably going to be required for him to win. So, yeah, they are having an influence with him and I’m not going to be there next year. But those that are going to be there, that think kind of normally, if you will, about things like Ukraine and Russia probably should speak up right now or they’re going to be led around by the wrong people, the next Congress.

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