McConnell Admits to Apologizing to Zelenskyy for Delay in Aid

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., shared in an upcoming interview that he apologized to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for the delay in sending additional foreign aid to the embattled country.

“One of the things I apologized for is it’s taken too long,” McConnell said during a sit-down with “Face the Nation,” set to be released Sunday. “If you go back to the beginning of this administration, even though I support it obviously, the supplemental requests and worked hard to get Republican votes for it, this all started with the precipitous withdrawal from Afghanistan. It’s like sending out a green light to all of the rogue regimes around the world that the Americans are going home.

“Number two, not giving the Ukrainians what they need soon enough. It didn’t just start with this administration. I mean, the Obama administration sent them meals ready to eat [after the 2014 invasion of Crimea]. That’s not exactly a way to defend yourself.”

When asked for what he was apologizing, McConnell said, “The slowness of it.”

Host Margaret Brennan pressed McConnell on his answer, saying, “The slowness was not in the Senate. Were you apologizing for House Republicans?”

“No, it was in the Senate,” McConnell said. “We spent about four months trying to agree to a deal with our own border with Mexico, which is a disaster. Initially, obviously, to make a law you have to deal with the other side. They’ve got the White House, they’ve got the Senate. We came up with a proposal … my members felt, many of them, it was not good enough. Our nominee for president seemed to be unenthusiastic about acting on that.

“So that took three or four months. Once we realized we were not going to be able to legislate on the border, we bored in on the subject of the supplemental. I think a number of my members, focusing on that, changed their mind. We grew from 22 to actually 32 – one member missed the last vote but would’ve voted for it.”

In a 79-18 vote Tuesday, the Senate approved an additional $60.8 billion in foreign aid for Ukraine, as well as $15 billion in military aid and $9 billion in humanitarian aid for Israel. Taiwan is set to receive $8 billion from the new package.

The passage of the additional foreign funding comes as Republicans in both chambers continue to fracture on the issue. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., initially refused to consider any more money for Ukraine until the crisis at the southern border had been addressed. Earlier this month, however, Johnson changed his position and began working to advance the supplemental aid request in the House.

Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, told The Hill on Thursday that there’s “no way” Ukraine would ever see a similar supplemental aid package passed again.

“If Ukraine thinks that it’s getting another $60 billion supplemental out of the United States Congress, there’s no way,” Vance said.

Vance has been outspoken in his opposition to the package from the get-go, in contrast to his nine GOP colleagues who flipped to pass the measure after initially voting against it in February.