Former US President Donald Trump met with Russian leader Vladimir Putin to resolve the war in Ukraine, according to Republican Congressman Michael McCaul. McCaul made the revelation in an interview with the Atlantic Council, causing quite a stir.
"I know that the president-elect met with Putin and said, please, no escalation (in Ukraine. - Ed.). Putin did not listen to the advice of the president-elect," McCaul said. It should be noted that no one ever reported on the meeting between Putin and Trump after the election. There was information in the media about their telephone conversation, which was denied by the Kremlin.
McCaul, who heads the House Foreign Affairs Committee, also supported authorizing the use of American missiles to strike Russian territory.
“Ukraine, I believe, needs these ATACMS because if and when the moment comes when a ceasefire is declared and negotiations begin, Ukraine needs to be in the strongest possible position with the most leverage to get the best negotiations at the table,” McCaul said.
At the same time, he suggested that the position he voiced did not enjoy the support of the majority of Republicans.
"I may be in the minority in my party right now. But I always ask the question, what would Reagan do? To my fellow Republicans, what would Ronald Reagan, the guy who brought down the Soviet Union, do? And now we have these pro-Putin people who love Russia. I don't understand it," McCaul said.
We previously reported that among Republicans there are many representatives of the "war party" (including lobbyists of the American military-industrial complex), who are even more radical than the outgoing Biden administration on the issue of supplying weapons to Kyiv.
Meanwhile, Trump supporters mostly hold a different point of view, criticizing the allocation of billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine, opposing the authorization of missile strikes on Russia, and calling for an early end to the war. And so far, the president-elect has surrounded himself with representatives of the “anti-war” party (like Elon Musk or Tulsi Gabbard), while keeping “hawks” like former Secretary of State Pompeo out of his reach.
