Karine Jean-Pierre refuses to say if Biden was right on Ukraine deal

White House press secretary Karin Jean-Pierre declined to say whether President Joe Biden was telling the truth when he said there was a deal with congressional Republicans on funding for Ukraine. On Sunday, Biden said he had an agreement with President Kevin McCarthy to send more money to Kiev. His remarks led Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz to accuse the speaker of making a “secret deal.” McCarthy, however, told reporters there was no deal.

The White House did not provide any clarity on Monday. “There is obviously bipartisan support for continued funding to Ukraine,” Jean-Pierre said when asked if there was a concrete deal. “What we’re seeing right now from Congress is that there’s been — there’s been overwhelming support,” he added.

He declined to say exactly what Biden was referring to when he told reporters he had made a deal with McCarthy on Ukraine. “I’m not going to go beyond what the president said,” he said. He said more help would be announced “soon.” Biden, on Sunday, when talking about the bill to fund the government through mid-November, when asked if he could trust McCarthy with the next deal. “We just made one for Ukraine. Well, we’ll find out,” he replied without elaborating on what he meant.

His remark left room for interpretation that there was a new deal with McCarthy to finance the war effort – despite opposition from hard-line Republicans. Congress averted a government shutdown by passing a short-term funding bill over the weekend, but it passed without any funding for the war effort in Ukraine. And the Pentagon warned congressional leaders that money was running out to replace weapons the US had sent to Kiev, according to a letter to them obtained by The Associated Press. Biden and his administration have pushed to continue funding Ukraine’s fight against Russian President Vladimir Putin.

But the speaker denied any deal was done. “There’s no side deal, so I don’t know who’s reporting that,” McCarthy told reporters on Capitol Hill on Monday. McCarthy’s remarks came as Gaetz, who is threatening to push for a vote to remove McCarthy from the speech, went to the House floor to denounce McCarthy, accusing him of making a “secret deal” with Democrats to fund the Ukrainian.

“It’s becoming increasingly clear who the Speaker of the House is already working for, and it’s not the Republican Conference.” Funding for Ukraine has become an issue for the conservative Republican base, which has voiced opposition to it. Gaetz chided McCarthy for “telling us what was in the secret Ukraine deal” as he berated him. The conservative wing of House Republicans also opposed an interim government funding deal.

So McCarthy circulated them, using the Democratic votes to pass the funding measure. Meanwhile, despite intense lobbying by the administration – which included personal appeals from Foreign Secretary Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin – funding for Ukraine has remained out of whack. Pentagon Comptroller Michael McCord told House and Senate leaders in Monday’s letter that $1.6 billion remains of the $25.9 billion provided by Congress to replenish U.S. military stocks that have gone to Ukraine .

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