Vice President Kamala Harris has been met with a severe backlash after making a dangerous gaffe regarding the situation involving Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Critics are accusing Harris of almost starting World War 3, while many are calling on President Joe Biden give her something less hazardous to do.
Harris had been sent to Europe on a diplomatic mission to show support for Ukraine among Western allies.
However, Harris’s actions during the trip appear to have done more to harm diplomacy than help it.
A social media account for Harris said in a now-deleted post that the United States is supporting Ukraine “in defense of the NATO alliance.”
On Saturday, Harris said “the U.S. stands firmly with the Ukrainian people in defense of the NATO Alliance.” White House’s transcript added an [and] to make it “the U.S. stands firmly with the Ukrainian people [and] in defense of the NATO Alliance.” But Kamala just repeated it… pic.twitter.com/HFVJtzz0zq
— Jerry Dunleavy IV 🇺🇸 (@JerryDunleavy) March 15, 2022
Ukraine is not a part of NATO, however.
The country never has been and never will.
In fact, the war, as Putin describes it, is to stop them from ever joining NATO.
“When I was in Poland, I met with U.S. and Polish service members, thanking them for standing with our NATO allies for freedom, peace, and security,” a tweet from the @KamalaHarris account stated.
“The United States stands firmly with the Ukrainian people in defense of the NATO alliance.”
It may be easy to assume the post was just an error or a typo but it’s not the first time she has made the claims.
Kamala said similar things to House Democrats over the weekend at the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) winter meeting in D.C.
“Russia’s invasion threatens not just Ukraine’s democracy, it threatens democracy and security across Europe,” Harris said.
“So I will say what I know we all say, and I will say over and over again: The United States stands firmly with the Ukrainian people in defense of the NATO alliance.”
KAMALA HARRIS: "So, I will say what I know we all say and I will say over and over again, the United States stands firmly with the Ukrainian people in defense of the NATO Alliance." pic.twitter.com/Ix1BY1BQ4G
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 12, 2022
From Fox News:
Those remarks prompted the White House to alter the transcript from the event, adding “[and]” to make it appear that she said the United States supports Ukraine and defends surrounding NATO countries.
According to a spokesperson from Harris’ office, the account that issued the tweet is controlled by the DNC.
“The ‘and’ was omitted by accident, so we took it down and reposted with the correct remarks,” the DNC said in an emailed statement to Fox News.
A new version of the tweet posted Tuesday night now reads:
“When I was in Poland, I met with U.S. and Polish service members, thanking them for standing with our NATO allies for freedom, peace, and security.
The United States stands firmly with the Ukrainian people and in defense of the NATO alliance.”