The resolution would subject potentially sensitive information, as well as routine funding, to intense partisan scrutiny. “We are asking for anything to do with military, political and financial assistance. We want it all,” Green said at an afternoon press conference at the US Capitol. The White House recently requested an additional $38 billion in aid for Ukraine, which has spent the past year fending off an invasion by Russia, its much larger and more powerful neighbor. Concerns about how long Washington can support the Ukrainian effort are becoming more mainstream, but Greene’s proposal went far beyond the usual skepticism. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is introducing a resolution Thursday to investigate funding for Ukraine. (Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/Reuters) “The question is, is Ukraine now the 51st state of the United States of America?” Greene said, comparing Washington’s support for Ukraine’s sovereignty to what she falsely described as an open border policy at the US border with Mexico, where thousands of migrants arrive daily to seek asylum. “Eighty-two thousand Russians have invaded Ukraine,” he said, although the number is almost certainly much higher than that, given how costly Ukraine’s allies in the West have made the war for the Kremlin. Occasionally indulging in conspiracy theories about the doomed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, Greene and his like-minded House colleagues heralded a combative, tough new mood in Washington, where optimism was already in short supply. “Our priorities are all out of whack,” complained Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., in what could be seen as a warning to any Republicans seeking to avoid fights over Ukraine, immigration, on Jan. 6. coronavirus and Hunter. Biden. Rep. Thomas Massie, along with Greene and Rep. Matt Gaetz, speak at Thursday’s news conference on Capitol Hill. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo) Massie was one of several members of the far-right Freedom Caucus who joined Greene at her news conference, which came several hours after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced she was stepping down from her leadership duties following last week’s midterm losses, which they gave the Republicans control of the lower chamber. The story continues A staunch supporter of the jailed January 6 rioters, Green has also vowed to hold hearings about how they were treated in pre-trial detention. “That’s also something that’s very important,” said the Georgia lawmaker, who later met with Kyle Rittenhouse, who became a right-wing hero after killing two people during the civil unrest that engulfed Kenosha, Wis. , in 2020. Rittenhouse, who was acquitted of murder charges last year, met with Republicans throughout Thursday, while Democrats spent the day showering Pelosi with praise. Republicans haven’t been particularly shy about their plans for what to do with control of the House. On Thursday morning, GOP Reps. James Comer of Kentucky and Jim Jordan of Ohio — both expected to play major roles in the new Congress — announced an investigation into the financial dealings of Hunter Biden, whose struggles with substance use and questionable professional ethics have made him a favorite target of both legal investigations and conspiracy theories. Flanked by House Republicans, Rep. Jim Jordan speaks Thursday at a press conference to discuss “Biden family business dealings.” (Alex Wong/Getty Images) “We want to know what the Biden administration is trying to hide from the American people,” Comer said at a news conference. Hours later, it was the same stage in the same underground auditorium in the Capitol complex, now with Greene announcing her own investigations — with more to come. Having twice watched Democrats impeach former President Donald Trump, many Republican lawmakers are eager to return the favor to Biden. They want to subpoena Dr. Anthony Fauci, who they suspect knows more than he has revealed about the origins of the coronavirus. to investigate last year’s chaotic withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan; and to question federal law enforcement authorities about the August raid on Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Florida home and golf club. “Real accountability is coming,” Rep. Kevin McCarthy, who Republicans have nominated to be the next speaker of the House, tweeted of Comer and Jordan’s press conference. But some worry that McCarthy, who has long coveted the speech, has made too many concessions to the right wing of his party to secure the necessary votes. By empowering — and emboldening — Green and Jordan, two of the most fiery Republicans on Capitol Hill, McCarthy could unwittingly lend credence to Democrats’ arguments that the GOP is owned by extremists who have no interest in governing. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Capitol Hill Tuesday after being nominated for speaker of the House. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images) The Democratic National Committee is already repeating the argument Biden used during the midterms, when his party avoided disaster by casting the GOP as an ideologically extreme movement under the thumb of Trump and MAGA supporters. “You can count on House Republicans to remind Americans every day just how extreme their party is,” said a DNC memo released Thursday, singling out Green as a figure who “is expected to have a leading and central role in the caucus of the Republicans”. Mainstream conservatives hope that doesn’t prove to be the case, though her unusually prominent role in brokering McCarthy’s candidacy seems to suggest that the prediction is indeed likely to come true. “I don’t need to have a leadership position,” he told The New York Times in an October profile. “I think I already have one, without having it.” A relentless culture warrior who was stripped of her commissions last year, Greene had previously suggested firing Fauci, the president’s top adviser on the pandemic at the time. He also filed articles of impeachment against Biden. In any case, her measure had little chance of even a cursory consideration, let alone a vote. But it also garnered favorable press from the conservative media and raised millions of dollars. Thursday’s filing was in the form of an investigative resolution, which essentially expedites a request for information made by Congress. The use of such resolutions was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic, but now that the process is allowed again, Republicans hope to use it to force the Biden administration to reveal information about its response to the pandemic, among other issues. President Biden on Wednesday in Bali, Indonesia. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images) “This is a tool for oversight and accountability in this administration. We have a list of questions that we want answered,” Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., told Bloomberg Law in September. If Democrats vote against the probes — as they inevitably will in most cases — Republicans can claim they’re trying to hide secrets about Ukraine, the origins of the coronavirus or Hunter Biden’s business dealings. Although congressional investigations were once a bipartisan affair, the impeachment of President Bill Clinton in the late 1990s ushered in a new era of oversight with a strongly political edge. In 2013, Republicans used hearings on the killing of four Americans in Benghazi, Libya, to push for an account of Hillary Clinton, who was secretary of state at the time of the attacks and would run for president in 2016. “Everybody thought that the Hillary Clinton was unbeatable,” McCarthy told Fox News in 2015, suggesting the hearings were hurting her popularity. “Her numbers are dropping.” Democrats have launched lengthy investigations into Trump, culminating in a commission into the Jan. 6 attack. Despite the presence of two anti-Trump Republicans on the committee, the GOP overwhelmingly rejected the committee’s work as illegitimate. Now, it’s the Republicans’ turn, with Hunter Biden and Ukraine as the first targets of their investigative zeal. Beyond domestic politics, stepped-up efforts to cut or freeze funding for Ukraine could signal to the Kremlin that US support is waning. Last month, House progressives were forced to withdraw a letter pressuring the White House to pursue a negotiated peace, with many critics calling the request a Kremlin appeasement. A man walks next to an apartment building destroyed by a Russian missile attack in October in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. (Carl Court/Getty Images) The GOP’s right wing has never been thrilled with Ukraine aid and is becoming increasingly vocal about its frustrations. “The days of endless cash and military hardware in Ukraine are numbered,” promised Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla. This view is not widely shared by mainstream Republicans. Texas Rep. Michael McCaul, who is expected to chair the House Foreign Affairs Committee in January, supports US aid. Even if Green files another resolution with the incumbent, it will likely fail under his direction. During her press conference, Greene also flirted with new conspiracy theories involving Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced founder of cryptocurrency exchange FTX. A major Democratic donor, Bankman-Fried had amassed enormous influence in Washington. Some right-wing figures on the Internet have unfoundedly charged that some US aid to Ukraine was funneled, via FTX, into Democratic coffers. Green repeated those accusations on Thursday. “We’re just figuring out the situation with FTX and cryptocurrency,” she said, wondering if foreign aid had been funneled by Bankman-Fried’s company into the “pockets of Democratic donors.” He had not, says Uriel…
