ASPEN, Colorado: Ukraine is on its way to being able to “stand on its own feet” militarily, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday, noting that more than 20 other countries have pledged to maintain their own military and financial aid to the country even if the US were to withdraw its support under a different president.
Blinken for the first time directly addressed the possibility that former President Donald Trump could win the November election and back away from commitments to Ukraine. The US, under President Joe Biden, has been the most important supporter of Ukraine’s more than two-year battle against invading Russian forces.
Trump’s public comments have varied between criticizing US backing for Ukraine’s defense and supporting it, while his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, has been a leader of Republican efforts to block what have been billions in US military and financial assistance to Ukraine since Russia invaded in 2022.
Concerns among Ukraine and its supporters that the country could lose vital US support have increased as Trump’s campaign surges and Biden’s falters.
Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke on the phone Friday.
“I noted the vital bipartisan and bicameral American support for protecting our nation’s freedom and independence,” Zelensky wrote on X, saying they agreed “to discuss at a personal meeting what steps can make peace fair and truly lasting.”
Trump said on his social media platform that he appreciated Zelensky’s outreach and promised to “end the war that has cost so many lives and devastated countless innocent families.”
Blinken said Friday that any new administration would have to take into account strong bipartisan backing in Congress for Ukraine in the interests of countering Russian President Vladimir Putin’s attempts to expand Moscow’s territory and influence.
“Every administration has an opportunity, of course, to set its own policy. We can’t lock in the future,” Blinken said, speaking to an audience of US policymakers and others at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado.
But he pointed to the security agreements that the United States and more than 20 other allies — including some NATO partners, Japan and the European Union — signed at a NATO summit in Washington this month.
“Were we to renege on that ... I suppose that’s possible, but happily we’ve got another 20 some-odd countries that are doing the same thing,” Blinken said.
Ukraine itself was on a trajectory to ensure it “stands on its own feet militarily, economically, democratically,” Blinken said.
Blinken points to wider pledges to support Ukraine in case US backs away under Trump
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Blinken points to wider pledges to support Ukraine in case US backs away under Trump
- Blinken for the first time directly addressed the possibility that Donald Trump would back away from US commitments to Ukraine if he becomes president again
- Concerns among Ukraine and its supporters that the country could lose vital US support have increased as Trump’s campaign surges and Biden’s falters
France’s Le Pen insists party acted in ‘good faith’ at EU fraud appeal
- Le Pen said on her second day of questioning that even if her party broke the law, it was unintentional
- She also argued that the passage of time made it “extremely difficult” for her to prove her innocence
PARIS: French far-right leader Marine Le Pen told an appeals trial on Wednesday that her party acted in “good faith,” denying an effort to embezzle European Parliament funds as she fights to keep her 2027 presidential bid alive.
A French court last year barred Le Pen, a three-time presidential candidate from the far-right National Rally (RN), from running for office for five years over a fake jobs scam at the European institution.
It found her, along with 24 former European Parliament lawmakers, assistants and accountants as well as the party itself, guilty of operating a “system” from 2004 to 2016 using European Parliament funds to employ party staff in France.
Le Pen — who on Tuesday rejected the idea of an organized scheme — said on her second day of questioning that even if her party broke the law, it was unintentional.
“We were acting in complete good faith,” she said in the dock on Wednesday.
“We can undoubtedly be criticized,” the 57-year-old said, shifting instead the blame to the legislature’s alleged lack of information and oversight.
“The European Parliament’s administration was much more lenient than it is today,” she said.
Le Pen also argued that the passage of time made it “extremely difficult” for her to prove her innocence.
“I don’t know how to prove to you what I can’t prove to you, what I have to prove to you,” she told the court.
Eleven others and the party are also appealing in a trial to last until mid-February, with a decision expected this summer.
- Rules were ‘clear’ -
Le Pen was also handed a four-year prison sentence, with two years suspended, and fined 100,000 euros ($116,000) in the initial trial.
She now again risks the maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a one-million-euro ($1.16 million) fine if the appeal fails.
Le Pen is hoping to be acquitted — or at least for a shorter election ban and no time under house arrest.
On Tuesday, Le Pen pushed back against the argument that there was an organized operation to funnel EU funds to the far-right party.
“The term ‘system’ bothers me because it gives the impression of manipulation,” she said.
EU Parliament official Didier Klethi last week said the legislature’s rules were “clear.”
EU lawmakers could employ assistants, who were allowed to engage in political activism, but this was forbidden “during working hours,” he said.
If the court upholds the first ruling, Le Pen will be prevented from running in the 2027 election, widely seen as her best chance to win the country’s top job.
She made it to the second round in the 2017 and 2022 presidential polls, before losing to Emmanuel Macron. But he cannot run this time after two consecutive terms in office.
