The conservative Fox News network has scrambled to slam President Joe Biden's response to Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent invasion of Ukraine, the fledgling democratic nation that broke from the U.S.S.R. in 1991.
Most recently, hosts of Fox and Friends criticized an apparent flub from Vice President Kamala Harris that insinuated Ukraine was a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). At a recent DNC gathering, Harris said “The United States stands firmly with the Ukrainian people in defense of the NATO alliance." The White House later clarified her comments in the official transcript to say that "The United States stands firmly with the Ukrainian people [and] in defense of the NATO alliance."
In the Fox and Friends segment, co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy speculated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy likely wished that former President Donald Trump was still in office.
This prompted backlash from historian Kevin Kruse.
"Gosh, I bet Zelensky wishes the US president was still the guy who got Republicans to drop Ukraine support from their platform, made military aid dependent on Zelensky doing his dirty work, and who was best buddies with Putin! I am very smart and qualified!"
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) March 13, 2022
This prompted Campos-Duffy to respond with praise of Trump's handling of Ukraine during his time in the White House.
Obama gave Ukraine blankets. Trump gave them weapons. He used that leverage to try to get Zelinsky to expose the proven Biden family corruption in Ukraine. Biden administration slowed down weapons to Ukraine & only ramped it up AFTER the invasion that his weak presidency invited.
— Rachel Campos-Duffy (@RCamposDuffy) March 13, 2022
In her attempt to defend Trump, however, Campos-Duffy inadvertently said he was guilty of a major offense that resulted in his first impeachment back in 2019.
The impeachment inquiry against Trump began when the House launched an investigation into a phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Just days after Trump reportedly directed an appointee of his at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to freeze nearly $400 million in congressionally approved military aid to Ukraine, Trump urged Zelenskyy to open up an investigation into then-candidate Joe Biden and into debunked conspiracies about a Crowdstrike server.
The aid freeze distressed Ukrainian officials, with the House's impeachment report declaring they
"expressed grave concern, deeply worried about the practical impact on their efforts to fight Russian aggression, but also about the public message it sent to the Russian government, which would almost certainly seek to exploit any real or perceived crack in U.S. resolve toward Ukraine."
House impeachment managers argued that Trump was exploited aid already promised to Zelenskyy as a "quid pro quo" for opening an investigation into his political opponents. Meanwhile, Republicans insisted there was no quid pro quo, and that Trump was just keeping a campaign promise to root out corruption.
But according to Campos-Duffy, a "quid pro quo" was exactly what it was and Trump's actions were honorable:
"Trump gave them weapons. He used that leverage to try to get Zelinsky to expose the proven Biden family corruption in Ukraine."
Social media users were quick to pounce on the admission.
lol she just admitted Trump was blackmailing Ukraine https://t.co/hr0VqrnqOi
— Christo Aivalis 🌹🍊 (@christoaivalis) March 14, 2022
Again, Fox News personality @RCamposDuffy admits that Donald Trump tried to extort Ukraine for leverage against Biden. Mollie Hemingway is gonna be so pissed. 😂😂 https://t.co/5k8lGPwy0i
— Holy Bullies (@holybullies) March 14, 2022
They don’t even deny Trump tried to extort the Ukrainians … https://t.co/oMICtU3DgI
— Bradley P. Moss (@BradMossEsq) March 13, 2022
Admits to what Trump was impeached for and thinks it’s a good thing he did it. https://t.co/RkPE6lss8h
— NICKinNOVA (@NICKinNOVA) March 15, 2022
That's literally WHY he was impeached the 1st time...
That's illegal AF, it's called extortion/bribery. https://t.co/VsEsRsT42n pic.twitter.com/pN83MhzrEU
— 👑✊🏾#BlackAF✊🏾👑 (@Black_1) March 15, 2022
Thanks for acknowledging trump tried to withhold funds https://t.co/W1yXeM2wI4
— Prof Dr DuckDuckGo (@TP_UKMingeLane) March 15, 2022
The quip led some to take shots at her intelligence.
Random word generating programs sound smarter than this https://t.co/tZbYM0gMWT
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) March 13, 2022
How does every single Trump supporter somehow manage to be empirically stupider than all of the others https://t.co/KgGmTVd8LK
— Dreamweasel (@Dreamweasel) March 13, 2022
Does it take practice to be this deliberately stupid or is it just in the water at Fox? https://t.co/a7iGNqCZlx
— Tara Setmayer 🌻 (@TaraSetmayer) March 14, 2022
Campos-Duffy hasn't responded.