WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday condemned President Joe Biden’s decision to send cluster munitions as part of a new U.S. aid package to Ukraine, warning that it could lead to World War III.
Trump shared his stance in a lengthy statement issued by his campaign. It comes five days after the Pentagon formally announced the decision, and a day after his former vice president and now rival for the GOP presidential nomination, Mike Pence, expressed support for the move.
“Joe Biden should not be dragging us further toward World War III by sending cluster munitions to Ukraine — he should be trying to END the war and stop the horrific death and destruction being caused by an incompetent administration,” Trump said.
In his statement Tuesday, Trump repeated the argument made by many critics — including those on the left — saying that unexploded cluster munitions “will be killing and maiming innocent Ukrainian men, women, and children for decades to come, long after the war.”
July 10, 202300:56
The former president then attacked Biden for saying in an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria over the weekend that the reason for sending the munitions was because the U.S. itself is low on ammunition.
“[T]he Ukrainians are running out of ammunition. … This is a war relating to munitions, and they are running out of that ammunition and we’re low on it,” Biden said.
“A great breach of classified information,” said Trump, who was indicted in June on 37 federal counts related to more than 100 classified documents recovered from Mar-a-Lago last year.
The White House didn’t immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment about whether Biden shared classified information publicly.
“It certainly means we should not be sending Ukraine our last stockpiles at a time when our own arsenals, according to Crooked Joe Biden, are so perilously diminished,” Trump said.
He added that Biden’s “humiliating admission that the USA is now out of ammo” is “something our enemies are undoubtedly salivating over.”
“We must stop this insanity, immediately end the bloodshed in Ukraine, and return to a focus on America’s vital interests,” Trump said. “Most importantly, we must completely rebuild our depleted military so it is once again so strong—like it was just 3 years ago when I rebuilt it—that no nation would even think of threatening our people.”
Trump didn’t offer any alternative solution that he would have acted on if he were currently president.
Since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, Trump has repeatedly refused to commit to publicly promising support for Ukraine. In May, he deflected numerous times during a CNN town hall when asked whether he would supply weapons and equipment to Ukraine as president.
He has also claimed that the war would never have happened under his watch and that he could broker a deal between Russia and Ukraine in 24 hours.
Meanwhile, NBC News reached out to most of the 2024 GOP presidential campaigns on Monday asking for comment to gauge where other candidates stand on the munitions issue.
Only former U.N. Amb. Nikki Haley responded; she said she supports the decision.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
