The Donald Trump-endorsed chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC), Michael Whatley, claimed Ukraine was an "aggressive" opponent of the US yesterday in an interview which has been slammed as "pandering to Putin".
Speaking to Fox News, Whatley said: "Joe Biden's feckless leadership has shown China, has shown Ukraine, has shown Iran, that they can feel free to be much more aggressive on the world front to the point where even they will try and meddle with our elections here."
Whatley added: "I think that we are seeing right now that this election truly, truly matters on national security...when America is weak, the world is a far more dangerous place."
Whatley's allegation that the trio of countries would interfere in US elections follows a long-standing campaign of his for "election integrity" in the country, echoing claims by the former president and his supporters that the 2020 election was "stolen" by Joe Biden.
Whatley's allegation that the trio of countries would interfere in elections was slammed as "parroting Putin"
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His claims of Iranian and Chinese interference have been backed by American officials; on China, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence published a threat assessment earlier this year.
The assessment said: "Beijing is expanding its global covert influence posture to better support the CCP’s goals... The PRC aims to sow doubts about US leadership, undermine democracy, and extend Beijing’s influence."
This marks a significant ramping-up of Chinese efforts in the US - in 2021, the US National Intelligence Council said it had "high confidence" in its judgment that "China did not deploy interference efforts, and considered but did not deploy influence efforts intended to change the outcome of the US Presidential election."
While on Iran, the US Treasury sanctioned a list of "state-sponsored Iranian cyber actors" who attempted to influence US elections between August and November in 2020.
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Whatley blamed Biden's "feckless leadership" for letting China, Iran, and Ukraine be "aggressive"
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The Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo said at the time that the sanctions "underscore[d] the US government’s commitment to hold state-sponsored actors accountable for attempting to undermine public confidence in the electoral process and US institutions."
The National Intelligence Council's 2021 report also cited "Russia’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 election significantly damag[ing] Moscow’s position and relationship with the United States" as a key driver as to why China didn't intervene in 2020.
While US bodies have directly accused Russia, China and Iran of election interference, the only official election-related sanctions on Ukrainians came in 2021 - before Russia's invasion of Ukraine - when Washington clamped down on a set of pro-Russian individuals and entities linked to efforts by Donald Trump's allies to dig up dirt on Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.
But since the start of the war in February 2022, and despite Republican opposition, the US and Ukraine have enjoyed an historic tightening of financial and diplomatic ties under the Biden administration - leading Democratic officials to blast Whatley for his lumping-in of Ukraine alongside China and Iran.
Alex Floyd said Donald Trump's foreign policy agenda was letting Putin "do whatever the hell he wants"
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In a response to what he called "Michael Whatley siding with Putin over our allies", the Democratic National Committee (DNC)'s Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd said: "Donald Trump has been clear that his foreign policy agenda is letting Putin 'do whatever the hell he wants', no matter how disastrous for the US and our allies.
"Trump and his Maga mouthpieces keep parroting Putin's talking points - while Trump is plotting to reward Putin for his invasion of Ukraine, his hand-picked RNC chair Michael Whatley is referring to Ukraine as an 'aggressive' adversary.
"Maga extremists are refusing to support our allies and pandering to Putin, but President Biden will continue to champion democracy and stand with our allies in their time of need.
"The stakes of November’s election for freedom at home and abroad are clear, and voters will never give Trump and his Maga minions another chance to abandon American leadership on the world stage."