WASHINGTON: Donald Trump picked J.D. Vance — a staunch opponent of aid for Kyiv who wants Washington to refocus on Asia — as his running mate, signaling a potential shift away from Europe if the Republican candidate wins in November.
Vance — a 39-year-old retired US Marine and best-selling author — is ideologically close to the former president, and his views on foreign policy could help shape Trump’s second term in office if he defeats Democrat Joe Biden.
“I gotta be honest with you, I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine one way or another as a country,” the senator from Ohio said on a podcast in April.
Vance was one of the fiercest opponents of the approval of $61 billion in new military aid for Ukraine, which was stalled by Republican lawmakers for months earlier this year — a time in which Russia made battlefield gains.
The United States has provided tens of billions of dollars in military assistance for Kyiv since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
But Vance and other Trump allies in Congress argue that Washington cannot continue to fund the war indefinitely, and a Trump victory in November would throw future American assistance for Ukraine into doubt.
Trump has said he would quickly end the conflict, raising the specter that Kyiv could be pushed to negotiate with Moscow from an unfavorable position.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday that he was not concerned about the prospect of another Trump presidency, despite indications his administration could be more sympathetic to the Kremlin.
“I think that if Donald Trump becomes president, we will work together. I’m not worried about this,” Zelensky told a news conference.
Asked on Tuesday about the consequences of a Trump presidency for Ukraine, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said both lawmakers and the American public back continued support for Kyiv.
“The American people strongly support continued assistance to Ukraine. They strongly support allowing Ukraine and helping Ukraine to defend itself against Russia’s aggression. It’s not just the American public, but it’s bipartisan majorities in both houses of Congress,” Miller told journalists.
For Vance, European countries have relied on the United States for security for far too long, and he advocates a shift to increasingly concentrate on East Asia.
“NATO countries can’t be welfare clients of the US,” Vance told Fox News in June, while he said in February that “we have been subsidizing European security to the tune of trillions of dollars.”
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference earlier this year, Vance argued that “the United States has to focus more on East Asia. That is going to be the future of American foreign policy for the next 40 years, and Europe has to wake up to that fact.”
“The point is not we want to abandon Europe. The point is we need to focus as a country on East Asia, and we need our European allies to step up in Europe,” he said, urging the continent to “take a more aggressive role in its own security.”
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Trump’s VP pick J.D. Vance signals shift away from Ukraine, Europe
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Trump’s VP pick J.D. Vance signals shift away from Ukraine, Europe
- J.D. Vance was one of the fiercest opponents of the approval of $61 billion in new military aid for Ukraine
- Republican VP candidate: ‘NATO countries can’t be welfare clients of the US’
Starmer’s chief of staff quits over former US ambassador's Epstein ties
- Morgan McSweeney said he took responsibility for advising UK's PM to appoint Peter Mandelson as Washington envoy
- Epstein files suggest that Mandelson sent market-sensitive information to the convicted sex offender when he was part of UK government
LONDON: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's chief of staff resigned Sunday over the furor surrounding the appointment of Peter Mandelson as the UK ambassador to the US despite his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
Morgan McSweeney said he took responsibility for advising Starmer to appoint Mandelson, 72, to Britain’s most important diplomatic post in 2024.
“The decision to appoint Peter Mandelson was wrong. He has damaged our party, our country and trust in politics itself,” McSweeney said in a statement. “When asked, I advised the Prime Minister to make that appointment and I take full responsibility for that advice.”
Starmer is facing a political storm and questions about his judgment after newly published documents, part of a huge trove of Epstein files made public in the United States, suggested that Mandelson sent market-sensitive information to the convicted sex offender when he was the UK government’s business secretary during the 2008 financial crisis.
Starmer’s government has promised to release its own emails and other documentation related to Mandelson’s appointment, which it says will show that Mandelson misled officials.
The prime minister apologized this week for “having believed Mandelson’s lies.”
He acknowledged that when Mandelson was chosen for the top diplomat job in 2024, the vetting process had revealed that Mandelson’s friendship with Epstein continued after the latter’s 2008 conviction. But Starmer maintained that “none of us knew the depth of the darkness” of that relationship at the time.
A number of lawmakers said Starmer is ultimately responsible for the scandal.
“Keir Starmer has to take responsibility for his own terrible decisions,” said Kemi Badenoch, leader of the opposition Conservative Party.
Mandelson, a former Cabinet minister, ambassador and elder statesman of the governing Labour Party, has not been arrested or charged.
Metropolitan Police officers searched Mandelson’s London home and another property linked to him on Friday. Police said the investigation is complex and will require “a significant amount of further evidence gathering and analysis.”
The UK police investigation centers on potential misconduct in public office, and Mandelson is not accused of any sexual offenses.
Starmer had fired Mandelson in September from his ambassadorial job over earlier revelations about his Epstein ties. But critics say the emails recently published by the US Justice Department have brought serious concerns about Starmer’s judgment to the fore. They argue that he should have known better than to appoint Mandelson in the first place.
The new revelations include documents suggesting Mandelson shared sensitive government information with Epstein after the 2008 global financial crisis. They also include records of payments totaling $75,000 in 2003 and 2004 from Epstein to accounts linked to Mandelson or his husband Reinaldo Avila da Silva.
Aside from his association with Epstein, Mandelson previously had to resign twice from senior government posts because of scandals over money or ethics.
Starmer had faced growing pressure over the past week to fire McSweeney, who is regarded as a key adviser in Downing Street and seen as a close ally of Mandelson.
Starmer on Sunday credited McSweeney as a central figure in running Labour’s recent election campaign and the party’s 2004 landslide victory. His statement did not mention the Mandelson scandal.
Morgan McSweeney said he took responsibility for advising Starmer to appoint Mandelson, 72, to Britain’s most important diplomatic post in 2024.
“The decision to appoint Peter Mandelson was wrong. He has damaged our party, our country and trust in politics itself,” McSweeney said in a statement. “When asked, I advised the Prime Minister to make that appointment and I take full responsibility for that advice.”
Starmer is facing a political storm and questions about his judgment after newly published documents, part of a huge trove of Epstein files made public in the United States, suggested that Mandelson sent market-sensitive information to the convicted sex offender when he was the UK government’s business secretary during the 2008 financial crisis.
Starmer’s government has promised to release its own emails and other documentation related to Mandelson’s appointment, which it says will show that Mandelson misled officials.
The prime minister apologized this week for “having believed Mandelson’s lies.”
He acknowledged that when Mandelson was chosen for the top diplomat job in 2024, the vetting process had revealed that Mandelson’s friendship with Epstein continued after the latter’s 2008 conviction. But Starmer maintained that “none of us knew the depth of the darkness” of that relationship at the time.
A number of lawmakers said Starmer is ultimately responsible for the scandal.
“Keir Starmer has to take responsibility for his own terrible decisions,” said Kemi Badenoch, leader of the opposition Conservative Party.
Mandelson, a former Cabinet minister, ambassador and elder statesman of the governing Labour Party, has not been arrested or charged.
Metropolitan Police officers searched Mandelson’s London home and another property linked to him on Friday. Police said the investigation is complex and will require “a significant amount of further evidence gathering and analysis.”
The UK police investigation centers on potential misconduct in public office, and Mandelson is not accused of any sexual offenses.
Starmer had fired Mandelson in September from his ambassadorial job over earlier revelations about his Epstein ties. But critics say the emails recently published by the US Justice Department have brought serious concerns about Starmer’s judgment to the fore. They argue that he should have known better than to appoint Mandelson in the first place.
The new revelations include documents suggesting Mandelson shared sensitive government information with Epstein after the 2008 global financial crisis. They also include records of payments totaling $75,000 in 2003 and 2004 from Epstein to accounts linked to Mandelson or his husband Reinaldo Avila da Silva.
Aside from his association with Epstein, Mandelson previously had to resign twice from senior government posts because of scandals over money or ethics.
Starmer had faced growing pressure over the past week to fire McSweeney, who is regarded as a key adviser in Downing Street and seen as a close ally of Mandelson.
Starmer on Sunday credited McSweeney as a central figure in running Labour’s recent election campaign and the party’s 2004 landslide victory. His statement did not mention the Mandelson scandal.
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