After meeting with President-elect Donald Trump's pick for Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) said both Hegseth and Trump are equally committed to ending the ongoing, America-funded conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.
A focal promise in Trump's campaign was facilitating a swift end to two ongoing conflicts. While many Republicans in Congress have objected to the Biden administration continuing to send funds to Ukraine, the criticisms surrounding the conflict in Gaza generally involved a perceived lack of support for Israel.
While Biden has tried to restart talks between Israel and Hamas now that the United States has brokered a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, Trump has taken a more direct approach.
In a recent social media post, Trump demanded the immediate release of Israeli hostages still being held in Gaza, saying that if they are not freed before he is sworn into office for a second term, there will be "HELL TO PAY."
In Ukraine, the Biden administration gave the foreign government permission to fire American-made ATACMS missiles into Russia. The administration also announced it would provide Ukraine with anti-personnel mines to deter further Russian advances and cancel half of Ukraine's debt to the United States, totaling nearly $4.6 billion.
In contrast, Trump has slammed the administration's continued funding of Ukraine, promising to negotiate peace between the two nations very early on in his presidency.
Tuberville, who recently met with Hegseth in Washington, told reporters on Wednesday that both Hegseth and Trump were in lock-step on ending both conflicts, with a special emphasis on releasing the hostages held in Gaza.
"Well, as Pete and President Trump say, we've got seven American hostages that have been over there for going on two years, and you never hear anything about it," he said. "And Pete and President Trump; their first goal is to get those hostages out and stop the war in the Middle East. Now, same thing in Ukraine, I've not voted for a dime in Ukraine. We have spent $214 billion in Ukraine, and we've seen nothing for it. Now, we keep hearing about how everybody else is helping around the world with this, NATO and other countries, they spent $52 billion. And you, the American taxpayer, paid $214 billion of your hard taxpayer dollars in Ukraine, and I guarantee you half of it's been stolen.
"He will get us out of this war. President Trump and Pete Hegseth will get us out of this war, along with Marco Rubio, the new secretary of state. We have negotiators now. Nobody in the Biden administration knew how to negotiate. All they knew how to do was run a criminal operation [and] spend money. We've got to stop it, but Pete will be the guy to do that," Tuberville added.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email craig.monger@1819news.com.
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