Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said on Sunday he thinks the White House lacks “moral clarity” on the issue of Ukraine and called on the administration to be a more forceful advocate of the democratic nation amid ongoing peace talks to end the war with Russia.
“I would like to see the president be a stronger advocate for the free country, the sovereign country of Ukraine that wants to be a democracy, wants to be allied with us, and have a little more clear-eyed view of who [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is, that Putin is the invader. He’s the dictator. He has murdered all of his opponents,” Bacon said in an interview on ABC News’s “This Week.”
“But I just don’t see that moral clarity coming from the White House,” he continued.
The moderate Republican said the White House has given “mixed signals” since proposing the initial 28-point peace plan earlier this month, which was widely criticized as being heavily favorable to Russia. Officials have been reworking the proposal, and President Trump has made clear it was not in its final form.
“It really was a surrender document that would’ve left Ukraine weak and vulnerable to Russia for decades to come,” Bacon said about the initial proposal. “I do think that agreement has shifted a little more back towards the middle.”
Bacon also expressed concern about a Wall Street Journal story suggesting billionaires close to the president are hoping to benefit financially if they get a favorable agreement with Ukraine, saying, “That alarms me tremendously.”
“We need moral clarity dealing with Putin,” Bacon said. “He does not want a peace agreement with Ukraine that leaves Ukraine a sovereign country, that can be allied with the West, that can be part of the EU and free markets. He wants to control another third of Ukraine. He would like to make Ukraine a vassal state.”
“So, I don’t know why the administration keeps pursuing the pointless here,” he continued. “But yet, we see The Wall Street Journal that there’s evidence, it’s all about trying to make agreements on rare earth minerals and natural gas pipelines and things like that, which Ukraine has no part of in this. And so, Putin does not want peace. The president should see it.”
