Senate GOP squirms over U.S. vote with Russia
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Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.). Photo: Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images
The U.S. vote against a United Nations resolution condemning Russian aggression is becoming another tension point between President Trump and Senate Republicans.
Why it matters: Republicans are bracing to have their party's leader challenge or undercut their core assumption about foreign policy. Some still hold out hope for a war-ending deal.
- "I think we should have voted 'aye'," Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) told Axios. "Clearly, Putin's Russia is the aggressor. And the world has been aware of that for over a decade."
- It's Wicker's second rebuke of Trump this month, after he called Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's comments on Ukraine's territorial borders a "rookie mistake."
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) called the vote "unfortunate," while Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) chose the word "shameful."
- "Refusing to acknowledge Russia as the undeniable and unprovoked aggressor is more than an unseemly moral equivalency — it reflects a gross misunderstanding of the nature of negotiations and leverage," Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said in a Monday statement.
What to watch: Other Republicans — including members of leadership — are choosing their words carefully or avoiding direct answers.
- "I don't know what's all behind that. My assumption is it's part of the negotiation right now," Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told Axios, adding, "I'm pretty clear about who I think started the war," referring to his past comments on Russia.
- "I've been very clear on the aggressors from the beginning," GOP Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said. He did not answer directly about the U.N. vote, but said he agrees with President Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron about finding a way to end the war and "prevent additional Russian aggression."
- Known defense hawk Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is taking a similar line. "I think Russia is the aggressor. I don't care about the U.N. resolution. I care about how this war ends and when it ends," he said.
The big picture: The U.S.' handling of the war in Ukraine has fractured the GOP since its start three years ago, with a growing isolationist wing of the party fighting against continued aid for Ukraine and a quicker end to the war.
