House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R) recently announced that he would be opening an investigation into a recent trip that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took to Pennsylvania. While there, President Zelenskyy met with Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro (D). The trip has received widespread criticism from Republicans, who argue that Zelenskyy was campaigning against President Donald Trump (R). Florida Rep. Byron Donalds (R), who supports the investigation, is reiterating his support for investigating Zelenskyy's Pennsylvania trip.
During an interview with Bloomberg Boston, the Florida Republican shared his concerns over President Zelenskyy's trip earlier this month. Calling it "wrong" and accusing the Ukrainian president of engaging in "election interference," Rep. Donalds doubled down his support for investigating the trip.
"You now have a foreign leader who's now making plant visits in one of the key battleground states in our presidential election," Rep. Donalds questioned. "Volodymyr Zelenskyy is now talking tough or talking badly about Donald Trump... that stop in Pennsylvania was highly political in the middle of a presidential election."
We cannot have foreign leaders getting involved in our Presidential Election.
What Zelenskyy did was wrong.
What Zelenskyy did was election interference.
What Zelenskyy did should be investigated.And it only occurred without media criticism because it benefitted the Democrats. pic.twitter.com/sOX9Nvome3
— Byron Donalds (@ByronDonalds) September 29, 2024
During the trip, President Zelenskyy is reported to have conducted an interview with The New Yorker wherein allegedly made āmade multiple critical comments about the Trump-Vance ticket."
This, Rep. Donalds says, is inexcusable.
"The Democrats would lecture us about foreign influence in our elections. Well, what demonstrates foreign influence any more than the leader of a foreign nation touring a facility in a battleground state 4o days before a presidential election?" Rep. Donalds further questioned.
He posits that "the reason why this is allowed to occur is because most of the media will not question Kamala Harris or Joe Biden. That's if Kamala Harris or Joe Biden are even available to answer your questions."
"They have no problem taking whatever help they feel they need from anywhere around the globe to win an election," he added.