GOP lawmakers scramble to spare Ukraine from Trump

Republican lawmakers are incensed about President Donald Trump's dismissal of Ukraine — and powerless to stop him.

That frustration hit a new peak on Monday as they sought to address the president's decision to purchase Russian diesel, waive sanctions on Moscow and potentially stop sharing intelligence with Ukraine. Those moves, coupled with days of unexplained disruptions in Kyiv's U.S.-controlled satellite defenses, left them freelancing remedies to address the new rift between Washington and Kyiv.

Senate Armed Services Committee members urged Trump to strike a deal with Ukraine that would curb its strikes on Russian energy targets. Another group of lawmakers held an emergency call with Ukraine's leader. A third faction threatened to derail the administration's lame-duck agenda.

The disparate responses reflect an undercurrent of Republican angst about an administration that has largely ignored Congress on Ukraine and foreign policy more broadly — and the lack of a coordinated response from the legislative branch. And they underscore just how little power Trump's own party has had in reining in his attacks on longstanding allied relationships.

"Democrats and Republicans in Congress understand what will happen if [President Vladimir] Putin faces no consequences for his murderous invasion," Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said after a last-minute call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meant to assure him the U.S. is still a partner.

Trump's decision to waive Russian sanctions was particularly painful for lawmakers, who passed a bill to impose them in September after more than a year of congressional maneuvering and resistance from the White House. That legislation also granted Trump the power to waive sanctions, which he did almost immediately.

Now both Republicans and Democrats are scrambling to determine what the next steps should entail if Trump doesn't change course. But they acknowledge they're running low on options.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) told reporters on Monday that "it's going to be difficult to say anything in the next two weeks that's going to make any difference" on Ukraine.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) publicly pleaded with Trump to support a plan in which Ukraine would halt strikes on Russian oil refineries in exchange for information from the U.S. on the Kremlin's missile and drone launch sites.

"President Trump can lower prices at the pump today by simply agreeing to this deal!" Wicker said in a social media post . "MR. PRESIDENT, PLEASE TAKE THIS WIN!"

The White House, when asked for comment, referred to Trump's recent remarks to reporters that he supported stopping the war. "Why? Because that's what I do for a living," he said. "And frankly, Zelenskyy is not helping matters much. I think he doesn't want to stop it, but I want to see people not die."

Trump has said his moves are intended to facilitate a peace deal between Kyiv and Moscow, after a grueling war that has dragged on for more than four years. But his actions have troubled even some of the president's most stalwart defenders.

Rep. Craig Goldman (R-Texas), who won Trump's endorsement for re-election this year, told reporters he was in favor of keeping sanctions on Russia in place.

Another Trump-aligned lawmaker, Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio), said he agreed ending the war was in the U.S. national interest. But, he added, the administration should pressure Russia to stop fighting, "rather than buy their oil and hold our Ukrainian allies back from using their full combat potential."

Others threatened to derail the Trump administration's lame duck priorities, most notably blocking the president's proposed $1.5 trillion defense budget, which hinges on unified GOP support in the face of staunch Democratic opposition.

"The agenda is dead," said retiring Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), a frequent Trump critic. "Many of us won't fund these things knowing he is propping up a dictator's invasion and throwing an ally under the bus."

And Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Penn.) pledged that anyone who attempted to limit the use of Starshield — a Pentagon-controlled satellite network developed by Elon Musk's SpaceX — for Ukraine would be "fully investigated and held accountable" via oversight hearings and harsh budget cuts to any responsible agency or agency head.

Any oversight action could still take months to materialize. And Trump has successfully maneuvered around Congress in the past, such as leaving top officials in acting roles because they won't receive enough Senate backing to get confirmed.

Democrats insisted they were working with Republicans to counter Trump's embrace of Russia, although they didn't detail exactly what those responses would be.

Blumenthal, in a follow-up post on social media, said lawmakers would express their support for Ukraine in "upcoming action" but did not specify what that meant.

In the interim, Trump's actions toward Russia and Ukraine have mystified lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

Rep. Madeline Dean (D-Pa.), who sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in an MS NOW interview after the Zelenskyy call, that lawmakers asked if he understood why the White House was undermining Ukraine's war footing. He could not provide any explanation.

"I find it historically dishonorable that the president has turned and showed his cards," she said, "that he supports Mr. Putin in this effort, the one who is bloodthirsty and has cost tens of thousands of lives."

Jordain Carney and Mia McCarthy contributed to this report.