Trump shredded by leading conservative for ‘giving aid and comfort’ to Putin as Republicans revolt over Ukraine
Por Isabel Keane — – World RSS Feed
Trump shredded by leading conservative for ‘giving aid and comfort’ to Putin as Republicans revolt over Ukraine
Andy McCarthy slammed President Trump’s so-called ‘energy ceasefire’ as being ‘rigged against Ukraine’
Isabel Keane in New York Sunday 18 October 2026 17:53 BST
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Leading conservative commentator Andy McCarthy tore into President Donald Trump for giving “aid and comfort” to Vladimir Putin, saying the administration’s latest concessions to Moscow should be “the last straw” for both Democrats and Republicans.
McCarthy, a former Fox News contributor who broke with the president following the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, shredded Trump’s failed “energy ceasefire” as well as the administration’s decision to drop sanctions on Russian diesel in a scathing column for National Review.
Trump’s “reprehensible diesel deal” with Russia comes “with no concessions from Putin on Ukraine,” McCarthy wrote. “The Trump administration will waive sanctions against Russia (in likely violation of federal law) in exchange for a relatively trivial amount of Russian diesel fuel that would have negligible impact on sky-high diesel prices.”
Trump has tried to blame rising fuel costs on Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian oil refineries, as the average cost per gallon of diesel in the U.S. has topped $6.50.
He also denounced the “energy ceasefire” that Trump declared went into effect October 11, writing that the agreement was not only “non-existent” but “rigged against Ukraine.”
open image in galleryHe noted that the White House’s clarification that the ceasefire only applied to oil refineries proved he was siding with Putin.
“As Trump officials knew, Ukraine has no operational oil refineries, Russia having bombed the last one four years ago; by contrast, Russia has dozens of refineries,” he wrote.
“That is, the ‘energy ceasefire’ was insidiously designed to prevent Ukraine from conducting the kind of strikes that most deter Russian aggression, yet enable Putin’s continued obliteration of the energy infrastructure Ukrainians need to survive the imminent cold season.”
McCarthy then zeroed in on what he said Republicans and Democrats should “regard as the last straw,” writing about the restriction on the Starshield satellite system, which, according to a Reuters report, came from the White House.
“Immediately, Congress should hold hearings, demanding testimony under oath from Defense Department and other administration officials about the chain of events that led to restrictions that facilitated Russia’s suspiciously timed attack,” McCarthy wrote.
open image in galleryMcCarthy added that if we “allow common sense to enter the equation, too many dark signs point in the direction of an American administration — at the very moment it was seeking Ukraine’s capitulation and threatening to leave it defenseless by denying intelligence — taking conscious action that left Ukraine exposed to an intense attack, which Russia just happened to have conducted right at that perfect time.”
“This is dark. It demands answers. Now.”
Some Republicans in Congress have spoken out against the Trump administration’s concessions to Russia.
Sen. John Cornyn of Texas called Trump’s recent actions “reckless.”
“Helping Putin in Ukraine is reckless. He would not stop with Ukraine, and our NATO allies would be next. Putin is fanatically committed to restoring Russia’s glory days, calling the collapse of the Soviet Union ‘the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century’ and claiming Russia was ‘robbed’ in the breakup,” Cornyn wrote on X.
Cornyn was one of four Republican senators to join Democrats in pressing the Trump administration for information about whether officials ordered restrictions on Ukraine’s access to Starshield.
The group, which also included Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, signed a bipartisan letter to Platte Moring, the Pentagon’s inspector general, demanding an investigation.
open image in gallerySen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina was equally scathing, calling the decision to drop sanctions against Russia “beyond irresponsible.”
“If the president wants to actually bring down energy prices, he can do it by solving the Iran problem,” he wrote on X. “Not by doing a solid for Vladimir Putin.”
Tillis also called the decision to drop sanctions against Russia “beyond irresponsible,” writing on X, “If the president wants to actually bring down energy prices, he can do it by solving the Iran problem. Not by doing a solid for Vladimir Putin.”
The move even drew some criticism from South Carolina Sen. Darline Graham, who said she would have chosen to “keep the pressure on Russia.”
“The president and I share the same goal, which is to end the war, get gas and diesel prices down,” Graham said. “The sanctions bill is one of the tools he can use to do that. It’s up to him whether or not he chooses to use it.”
“Personally, I would choose to keep the pressure on Russia … because I don’t trust Putin, and I don’t trust Russia,” she said.
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Donald TrumpVladimir PutinUkraineRussiaWhite House
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