Courtney Kuby
Appearances
The Rachel Maddow Show
Trump accidentally builds broad coalition of opponents energized by his unpopular agenda
Yeah, sure. So, I mean, there's really two sides to this argument. There are the people who believe that this is just part of negotiating, that you make some sacrifices or some changes during negotiation, whether it's a show of good faith or getting the other side to the table. And then there are other people who clearly think this is nothing but capitulation to Russia.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Trump accidentally builds broad coalition of opponents energized by his unpopular agenda
So the two sides broken down. What this cyber command decision or order from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth does is it is pausing all offensive cyber operations against Russia and all offensive information operations against Russia. But the key here is we don't know how long this is supposed to last.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Trump accidentally builds broad coalition of opponents energized by his unpopular agenda
There are some officials who say this is while the US is actively involved in trying to be this mediator between Russia and Ukraine to try to end the war. And there are others who say, look, we don't have any sense of what the timeline could be and when this actually could end.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Trump accidentally builds broad coalition of opponents energized by his unpopular agenda
Now, there are critics or people who are concerned that this is this is a time where the United States should be stepping up. They're gathering on Russia, particularly when it comes to information operations. But at this point, it appears that all of that is halted. And the timeline, again, is really unclear for that.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Trump accidentally builds broad coalition of opponents energized by his unpopular agenda
The next issue on the weapons, on these the military equipment that the United States has been flowing in. And Rachel, you know.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Trump accidentally builds broad coalition of opponents energized by his unpopular agenda
Whether people are in favor of actually sending these weapons and this equipment to Ukraine or not, there is no doubt that this has been a logistical feat and hurdle to get these billions and billions of dollars of, in some cases, massive equipment, weapons, ammunition into Ukraine immediately. so that they've been able to stave off the Russian offensive that began just over three years ago.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Trump accidentally builds broad coalition of opponents energized by his unpopular agenda
What we've learned late today is that, in fact, the Trump administration, at least for now, again, has paused the delivery of any additional military weapons or equipment to Ukraine. You may say, well, we haven't been hearing about the Trump administration announcing any additional sending of any additional weapons. And that is right.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Trump accidentally builds broad coalition of opponents energized by his unpopular agenda
Basically, the Biden administration used almost all of the money that they had allocated to send to to to buy weapons or to send from U.S. stockpiles and then reimburse U.S. stockpiles for Ukraine. There was about three three point eight or so billion dollars that were left in that. But there's not any money that's still left to reimburse the U.S. military for that.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Trump accidentally builds broad coalition of opponents energized by his unpopular agenda
So that money has basically been paused. There really hasn't been any new spending to Ukraine. But. There was money or there was still additional weapons and equipment that were being sent as part of other disbursements. So, for instance, one of the last presidential drawdown authority announcements had some refurbished vehicles. Those were still being flown into Ukraine. And then.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Trump accidentally builds broad coalition of opponents energized by his unpopular agenda
There's another pot of money that has existed for the last three years called the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. That's sort of longer term weapons systems and equipment that could take years in some cases to deliver to Ukraine. What we found out tonight is that the United States is pausing all of those shipments for now.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Trump accidentally builds broad coalition of opponents energized by his unpopular agenda
And again, just like the Cyber Command decision, it's just not how clear that's going to last. Now, why I keep going back to how long these decisions and these announcements will last is because it will prove whether this really is something that the United States has decided to do.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Trump accidentally builds broad coalition of opponents energized by his unpopular agenda
as part of a negotiation, or whether it is, as some have claimed, that this could be a sign of, in an effort that President Trump has made very clear that he wants to normalize relations with Moscow, that this could be part of a capitulation to that effort, Rachel.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Trump accidentally builds broad coalition of opponents energized by his unpopular agenda
If so, it's not nothing that we are aware of at this point. I mean, and, you know, officials, you know, when the cybercom thing first came up, officials were saying, look, the United States needs to show some good faith here. So is it possible that Russia will give something? Vladimir Zelensky has made it very clear that he doesn't believe that Russia will negotiate in good faith in any way.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Trump accidentally builds broad coalition of opponents energized by his unpopular agenda
At this point, we're not aware of anything that they have given to the US for these things.