Zelensky insulted him; Republican Home of Representatives investigates PA journey of Ukrainian president

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visits the Army ammunition factory in Scranton, Pennsylvania, USA, September 22, 2024.

Ukrainian Presidential Press Service | Reuters

House Speaker James Comer is launching an investigation into Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's Sunday visit to a munitions factory in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Comer claims the trip was organized to promote Vice President Kamala Harris's presidential candidacy and was financed with “taxpayer money.”

The Republican investigations come at a time when relations between Zelensky and former President Donald Trump appear to be deteriorating.

On Wednesday, Trump accused Zelensky of insulting him – Trump said the Ukrainian president had made “nasty little smears” against him – and added that he gets along “very well” with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“There's really nowhere for the Ukrainian people to go back to, and that didn't have to happen. Those buildings are destroyed, those cities are gone. They're gone, and we continue to give billions of dollars to a man who refuses to make a deal,” Trump said of Zelensky while speaking at a plumbing parts manufacturer in Mint Hill, North Carolina.

Zelensky is in the US to attend the UN General Assembly's high-level week in New York, where he will meet with world leaders. He also plans to visit the White House on Thursday, where he will meet President Joe Biden and Harris later in the day.

Trump was scheduled to meet with the Ukrainian president at Trump Tower on Thursday, but a campaign official told NBC News on Wednesday that the meeting would not take place. When asked why, a source familiar with the matter referred to Zelensky's interview with the New Yorker.

In an interview published in the New Yorker on Sunday, Zelensky said Trump's running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, was “too radical” and his message seemed to be “that Ukraine must make a sacrifice” to end the war with Russia.

Asked whether Ukraine should cede land in exchange for a ceasefire with Russia, Vance said at a press conference on Wednesday that “everything will be on the table.”

In his letter, Comer also criticized the timing of the visit and the publication of Zelensky's comments about Trump's vice presidential candidate.

The ammunition factory that Selenskyj visited is operated by General dynamics and manufactures components for 155mm artillery shells, a munition critical to Ukraine's combat effort. According to a July 2024 Pentagon fact sheet, the United States has supplied more than 3 million rounds of this munition to Ukraine since February 2022.

On Wednesday, the Department of Defense announced $375 million in additional security assistance to Ukraine, including additional 155mm artillery shells, which the Scranton plant specializes in producing.

“I began my visit to the United States by expressing my gratitude to all the employees of the plant and reaching agreements to expand cooperation between Pennsylvania and our Zaporizhia,” Zelensky wrote on Sunday.

There, Zelensky also met with three Democrats from Pennsylvania: Governor Josh Shapiro, Senator Bob Casey and Representative Matt Cartwright. Both Casey and Cartwright face re-election in November.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky delivers a speech at the “Summit of the Future” in the General Assembly Hall of the UN headquarters in New York City, USA, on September 23, 2024.

Caitlin Ochs | Reuters

“The Scranton Army Ammunition Plant plays a critical role in strengthening Ukraine's armed forces, and I was honored to join President Zelensky in thanking Pennsylvania workers for helping defend democracy. Attempts to defame his visit to our Commonwealth are an insult and a disgrace,” Senator Casey said in a statement to CNBC.

Spokespeople for the governor's office and Cartwright's campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the investigation.

“In 2019, the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives impeached President Donald J. Trump for abuse of power, alleging that he attempted to use a foreign leader – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky – for his 2020 presidential campaign, despite the lack of evidence of any wrongdoing by President Trump,” Chairman Comer wrote in a press release on Wednesday.

A 30-minute phone call between then-President Trump and Zelensky in 2019, in which the former president asked Zelensky to investigate the activities of his then-rival President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, was part of the impeachment proceedings against Trump.

“The Biden-Harris administration recently flew the same foreign leader – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky – on an American taxpayer-funded flight to Pennsylvania, a swing state in the upcoming 2024 presidential election that has been described as 'the most difficult battleground for a Vice President Kamala Harris victory,'” Comer continued.

In letters to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Attorney General Merrick Garland and White House Counsel Edward Siskel, Comer requested further information about the government funds used for the trip as well as all internal and external communications related to the trip.

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson also sent a strongly worded letter about the trip to Pennsylvania on Wednesday. Johnson wrote directly to Zelensky and asked the war leader to recall the Ukrainian ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova, who had organized the visit to Scranton.

Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Mike Johnson (R-LA) walks to his office at the U.S. Capitol on September 17, 2024 in Washington, DC.

Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images

“The tour was clearly a partisan campaign event designed to help Democrats and clearly constitutes election rigging,” Johnson wrote. “This shortsighted and deliberately political move has caused Republicans to lose confidence in Ambassador Markarova's ability to serve this country fairly and effectively as a diplomat.”

Comer's investigation comes a day after nine House Republicans signed a letter to Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz and Defense Department Inspector General Robert Storch calling for “a comprehensive investigation into the use of U.S. military assets and federal resources related to the visit.”

In the letter, Republicans suggest that Zelensky may have flown to Scranton on a US Air Force plane and provided protection for the Secret Service there.

Trump's stance on the war in Ukraine and America's role in it was a contentious issue during the campaign and was criticized by both Democrats and some Republicans. Several Republicans have cited Trump's ambivalence toward U.S. support for Ukraine as one of the reasons they chose Harris.

In contrast, Biden on Wednesday reiterated his administration's support for Ukraine, adding that he would announce a series of additional “actions to accelerate support for the Ukrainian military” on Thursday.