Zelensky met with congressional leaders as Republicans criticize his ‘campaign to help the Democrats’

Volodymyr Zelensky met on Capitol Hill with leaders of both parties to discuss his "victory plan" in the war against Russia. The Ukrainian president arrived to the meeting after his Pennsylvania tour, which was interpreted by many Republicans as yet another campaign event on behalf of Kamala Harris.

Zelensky met Thursday for more than an hour with a bipartisan group of House members amid growing criticism of the U.S. sending taxpayer money to the war between the two European countries.

"There were a lot of people in the room, a lot of questions and we moved relatively quickly. The chairman had an hour and then had to leave. And there were some questions about the plan and confidence in it," Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-(Md.).

Jim Himes (D-Conn.), said the subject of Zelensky's visit to Pennsylvania came up. The foreign president met with some Democrats and toured the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant, a factory that produces 155mm artillery ammunition, with Gov. Josh Shapiro.

According to Himes, it was Rep. Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who specifically brought up the issue. "I want to meet with you to talk about this whole Pennsylvania thing," he told the Ukrainian.

"That was the only time the subject came up," noted Himes, who also added that Zelensky did not apologize for the visit.

Republican Joe Wilson, one of Ukraine's advocates within the Republican caucus, said of the aforementioned visit: "It wasn't supposed to be a political issue. It is quite understandable that it could have been interpreted as political, but I am sure that for the Ukrainian government it was not supposed to be political."

House probes Biden-Harris administration for bringing Zelensky to Pennsylvania

The House Oversight Committee stated that its chairman, James Comer, will launch an investigation against the Biden-Harris administration for the Ukrainian president's visit to Pennsylvania.

"Chairman Comer today opens an investigation into the Biden-Harris Administration's use of taxpayer-funded resources to fly Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Pennsylvania to campaign for Vice President Kamala Harris for the 2024 presidential election," they said in a statement.

"Now, the Biden-Harris Administration is flying the same foreign leader on a U.S. taxpayer-funded flight to Pennsylvania, a battleground state for the Harris campaign. If the Biden-Harris Administration attempted to use a foreign leader to benefit the vice president's presidential campaign, this is an abuse of power and a misuse of taxpayer money," the committee added.

Even House Speaker Mike Johnson called on the Ukrainian president to fire his ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova, whom he accused of organizing "a partisan campaign event designed to help the Democrats."