In The News

Democrat Candidate Joe Biden’s use of the U.S. Air Force to fly Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky to a media opportunity in the battleground state of Pennsylvania has prompted concerns of foreign election interference and misuse of taxpayer money.

Over the weekend, President Biden had Zelensky flown into the swing state on a U.S. C-17 aircraft so Ukraine’s president could visit an ammunitions plant in Biden’s birthplace of Scranton.

Zelensky’s tour of the plant on Sunday – the same day he trashed Biden’s Republican opponent Donald Trump in an interview published by The New Yorker – drew national media coverage as the two candidates are engaged in a tightly-contested race for president in November’s election.

What’s more, two Pennsylvania Democrats fighting for reelection this year, Senator Bob Casey and Rep. Matt Cartwright, accompanied Zelensky at the tour/media event.

Republicans are viewing Zelensky’s taxpayer-funded flight to Pennsylvania askance, attributing it to a “sinister motive to stump for Democrats in the crucial swing state just weeks before the elections,” The Washington Examiner explains:

“House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) said. ‘I think it’s an abuse of taxpayer funds and trying to support Democrat candidates and using military aircraft to do so.’

“Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) questioned why Zelensky visited the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant in particular, as it is located in President Joe Biden’s hometown.”

“Zelensky is openly campaigning for Democrats in battleground Pennsylvania today some 50 days out from our Presidential election,” Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) declared in a post on social media.

“Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appeared to use U.S. military assets to campaign for Vice President Kamala Harris on a visit to battleground state Pennsylvania,” The Federalist reports, citing a comment about the importance of the U.S. election made by Zelensky while aboard the U.S. aircraft:

“Gov. Josh Shapiro, a prominent Kamala Harris surrogate, and other Democrats, including Sen. Bob Casey. Zelensky arrived in Scranton, Pennsylvania (President Joe Biden’s oft-referenced birthplace), aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17, images of which he used to advertise his visit.

“In a message recorded from inside the aircraft, Zelensky noted, ‘This fall will determine what’s next in this war.’”

“Foreign interference in American elections isn’t only bad when it helps Donald Trump,” National Review Online Senior Writer Dan McLaughlin noted Monday, calling Zelensky’s visit to the battleground state a clearer case of election interference than the accusations regarding then-President Trump’s 2019 phone conversation with Zelensky that Democrats used as the basis for impeachment:

“If the Biden-Harris administration (and/or the government of Pennsylvania) is using taxpayer money to ferry Zelensky to Scranton, that’s a problem. Recall precisely what it was that got Trump impeached in 2019.”

….

“Flying Zelensky out to a swing-state factory six weeks before Election Day with Bob Casey and Josh Shapiro is a lot further down that scale of purely political benefits than flying him to the White House or the U.N.”

For his part, Pres. Zelensky claims he visited the Scranton plant to ask it to increase production of much-needed ammunition for his country’s fight against Russian aggression:

“Scranton, Pennsylvania. I visited a plant that manufactures 155 mm artillery shells. Now, for our warriors who are defending not only our country, not only Ukraine, the plant will be ramping up production.

“I began my visit to the United States by expressing my gratitude to all the employees at the plant and by reaching agreements to expand cooperation between Pennsylvania and our Zaporizhzhia.”

While liberal media in the U.S. are promoting and praising Zelensky’s pretext for his visit to the swing state, media abroad may not be buying it.

For example, Sky News Australia reports that, while Biden and Zelensky may have plausible deniability regarding election-interference accusations, the use of military assets to fly a Biden-supporting foreign leader into a battleground state is, at the very least, bad optics:

“Now, he was there to sign a deal with Democrat Governor Josh Shapiro between Pennsylvania and Ukraine.

“But, it’s not a good look.”