The fate of a bipartisan border deal that Senate Republicans demanded to fund Ukraine aid appeared dimmer this week after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell acknowledged to Republicans that Donald Trump’s opposition to the deal has complicated its future, The Washington Post has reported.
In December 2023, Czech President Petr Pavel said Russian President Vladimir Putin is counting on the victory of Donal Trump in the 2024 US elections to negotiate with him on the future of the Russia-Ukraine war without the involvement of any European state, as per EurActiv.com.
Trump himself said that as president, he would be able to resolve the Ukraine war in one day. These facts may suggest that the former US president plans to decide the fate of Ukraine with Putin without taking into account Ukraine’s views on how to end Russia’s war. Therefore, the possible lack of assistance to Ukraine may be a way to leave the country without options during the possible negotiations between the two leaders.
Earlier, Republicans demanded border policy changes to approve $60 billion aid for Ukraine, which had been requested by the White House. A small group of Senate negotiators were closing in on a deal last week when Trump slammed the negotiations, saying he would only accept a “PERFECT” deal.
In a recent closed-door meeting, McConnell acknowledged that there might not be a path to passage for a border deal, according to two people familiar with the matter.
McConnell’s doubts were aired after a significant number of Republican senators increasingly vocalized their opposition to a border security deal before details were released.
After Trump’s win in the New Hampshire primary, he publicly encouraged Republicans on social media not to accept any border deal with Democrats last week, pledging to get a better deal when he is president.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said recently that Trump was “extremely adamant” that the deal should be rejected. “He and I have been talking about this pretty frequently,” Johnson said.
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