Speaker of the US House of Representatives Mike Johnson for a long time refused to approve assistance to Ukraine without resolving the situation on the country’s southern border.
This information was reported by The New York Times, URA-Inform reports.
However, he changed his mind after reading intelligence and evidence of Russian crimes. For weeks after the Senate passed a massive aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, Speaker Mike Johnson was worried about how to get the bill through the chamber without losing his job.
He reportedly met with senior national security officials, including William Burns, director of the CIA, to discuss classified intelligence, repeatedly held talks with various groups of Republicans and considered the views of their constituents on financing Ukraine.
When his plan to work with Democrats to clear the way for aid to Ukraine ran into sharp opposition from ultra-conservatives who were already threatening to topple him, Johnson, an evangelical Christian, knelt and prayed for leadership, US journalists write.
< p>«I want to be on the right side of history», — recalls the words of Speaker Michael McCall, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
Johnson's decision to risk the Speakership to push a $95 billion foreign aid bill through the House was the culmination of his extraordinary personal and political evolution.
«History judges us for what we we do. Now is a critical time. I could have made a selfish decision and done something different. But I'm doing what I think is right here. I believe that providing lethal assistance to Ukraine is now critically important», — he told reporters at the Capitol last week.
Johnson attributed his change in part to the intelligence briefings he received.
«I really believe this information. I think Vladimir Putin would continue to march around Europe if he were allowed to. I think he might go against the Baltics next. I think he might fall out with Poland or one of our NATO allies», — noted the speaker.
One of the most influential briefings, according to people familiar with the discussions, took place in the Oval Office in February, when congressional leaders met with Joe Biden to discuss government funding and aid to Ukraine. During that meeting, Burns and other senior national security officials tried to convince Johnson of how quickly Ukraine was running out of ammunition and how dire the consequences would be if Ukraine's air defenses were no longer bolstered by American weapons.
The speaker was also struck by the stories. , which he heard during meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and others about the scale of suffering that Russian troops have inflicted on Ukraine. All of this affected Mike Johnson's sense of Christian faith.
«During a short meeting with legislators, Johnson made it quite clear that if we don't do this in April, it may be too late for Ukraine.&# 187;, — said Don Bacon, a Republican from Nebraska.
We recall that it was previously reported when the United States would send a new batch of weapons to Ukraine: Warner gave a clear answer.
