A secret briefing at which Democratic senators sought to convince their Republican colleagues of the need to provide additional military aid to Ukraine has turned into a high-profile dispute over US border security.
Republican senators called the briefing a waste of time. They are prepared to vote against a $106 billion aid package for Israel and Ukraine unless it includes funding to strengthen the US border with Mexico.
Republicans say the briefing only discussed information that was already known or publicly available. Some of them left the meeting early.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the dispute began when Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, asked Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma to talk about the border instead of discussing Ukraine.
“He called on Lankford to give a five-minute talk on the border negotiations instead of asking our panelists a question,” Schumer said. “Then when I mentioned that they could make an amendment and be able to do something about the border, they were stuck... they didn’t like it.”
On December 5, a secret briefing was held in the US Senate, at which Democrats and representatives of the US presidential administration tried to convince Republicans to support a bill providing military assistance to Ukraine and Israel.
Vladimir Zelensky canceled his participation in the briefing at the last moment.
itself turned out to be unsuccessful , turning, as the NYT writes, into continuous noise and shouting.
his participation in the briefing at the last moment According to Defense Minister Umerov, Zelensky did this because “the war, the situation is changing.”
