House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul joined ABC’s “This Week” with Martha Raddatz this morning to discuss his recent visit to Ukraine, where he conducted vigorous, in-person oversight of U.S. assistance and met with top officials in the country. They also discussed the “unholy alliance” between Vladimir Putin and Chairman Xi in China. 

Top Takeaways

“We can certainly write into our appropriations bills prioritizing weapons systems and we intend to do that…I think with enough pressure from Congress on both sides of the aisle, we can get into Ukraine what they really need to win this fight.”

“For God’s sakes, it takes three to six months to train [Ukrainian soldiers to fly F-16s]. We need to do this now.”

On Xi’s “Unholy Alliance” with Putin

“Well Chairman Xi and Putin have this unholy alliance, since the Beijing Olympics – Xi called Putin his ‘best friend’ several years ago…It’s been reported that they are contemplating sending 100 drones into Russia. We also know they’re buying all their energy from them, economically supporting them…To me, that’s very disturbing because what may be Ukraine today, it’s going to be Taiwan tomorrow. That’s why this is so important.”

On Current Oversight

“I did a firsthand, you know, [oversight of U.S. funding] in theater in Ukraine and in Poland…We have three IG audits right now. We have an audit by Deloitte. We also have end-use monitoring on the weapons and barcoding systems. [The American people] want to know that their money is being spent wisely.

On Why Ukraine Matters

“‘What would Reagan do,’  I would ask my fellow colleagues…What would he do? He brought down the Soviet Union. I think he would stand for freedom and democracy.”

Original source can be found here.