Yesterday, we were treated to the embarrassing spectacle of several United States Senators disputing what the Trump administration had been saying in the past days over a Kremlin-friendly peace plan being authored by the United States. Whatever was said to the Senators on the conference call by Rubio was eveidently lost in translation, as a few hours later, Secretary of State Rubio denied that Trump’s peace plan was Russia’s.
Confused yet? So is everyone else. Yet another debacle by the Trump administration.
Source: Politico
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia — U.S. lawmakers attempted Saturday to reverse days of confusion around a leaked peace plan for Ukraine, saying Secretary of State Marco Rubio assured them the document does not represent the Trump administration’s position.
Rubio called the bipartisan delegation to the Halifax International Security Forum on Saturday afternoon, they said, while en route to Geneva for talks with Ukrainian officials. He described the plan as a Russian proposal, they said, and not a U.S. initiative.
“He made it very clear to us that we are the recipients of a proposal that was delivered to one of our representatives,” said Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.). “It is not our recommendation. It is not our peace plan. It is a proposal that was received, and as an intermediary, we have made arrangements to share it — and we did not release it. It was leaked.”’
Their comments, at a Halifax press conference, amounted to a massive U-turn for an episode that has dominated the news this week and fueled a mad diplomatic scramble. The release of the plan has prompted questions in Kyiv, European capitals and Washington about whether the U.S. was backing a Kremlin-friendly plan.
A few hours later, Rubio finally released a statement on Twitter, saying, “The peace proposal was authored by the U.S.,” he wrote. “It is offered as a strong framework for ongoing negotiations. It is based on input from the Russian side. But it is also based on previous and ongoing input from Ukraine.”
Rounds’ comments.
Denied a few hours later by a State Department spokesman.
And later by Rubio himself. Given the nature of their “plan”, there was never any input from Ukraine, and Rubio is lying. He should resign.
