Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a Republican from Illinois, expressed his concern that Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, could be held responsible by historians if Ukraine loses the war due to the failure of getting an aid package approved by Congress.
Recently, Johnson made a commitment to pass a Ukraine aid package through the House once lawmakers return from recess in the coming days. However, there are disagreements within the GOP regarding support for Ukraine, which could potentially derail any upcoming legislation.
In addition, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) has sparked rebellion within his own party by initiating a motion to remove Johnson from his position after the approval of the $1.2 trillion spending bill.
In a recent interview with CNN anchor Jessica Dean, Kinzinger expressed his views on Johnson’s potential ousting. The former Illinois lawmaker suggested that Johnson should consider striking a deal with Democrats in order to prevent being removed from office. Kinzinger also emphasized the importance of Johnson’s efforts to provide aid to Ukraine.
Here’s what I think he should do. I mean, he’s going to survive. I would put dollars to donuts. He’ll be the speaker at the end of this term. Now, he’s either going to survive by succumbing to the, frankly, the terrorism of Marjorie Taylor Greene. Any time you know anything wants to get done, she’s going to hold this threat over his head, or he can survive by cutting a deal with the Democrats. Now he has to think about his conscience. Because I got to tell you, if Ukraine loses this fight, he will be the guy in the history books that are written about why Ukraine lost this fight. And they won’t necessarily say that he’s the one that pulled the aid, but he’s the one that could have done something which changed it. And, you know, as he’s developing whatever this package looks like, you know, there’s talks of loans and I guess there’s some potential agreement with that. But I think we need to recognize the fact that Ukraine…it’s not us helping Ukraine. Ukraine is helping us by fighting to defend themselves against one of our chief competitors and, frankly, enemies in this world. If I was him, I would come back. I would put the Senate bill on the floor, or next case is just strip the Israel portion out of it, since that’s a little more controversial, pass it and either send it back to the Senate or send it to the president to sign and have your conscience clear and let the Ukrainians defeat the Russians on the battlefield.