President Biden is under fire over reports that administration officials shared U.S. intelligence with China on Russian troop movements ahead of the invasion of Ukraine.
Congressional lawmakers, led by Rep. Ted Budd of North Carolina, are demanding answers from the White House over the allegations. Mr. Budd, a North Carolina Republican who is running for Senate this year, urged the administration to explain its conduct in a letter Friday.
“As the current crisis in Ukraine has demonstrated, our foreign policy needs to be grounded in a clear-eyed and realistic understanding of which countries are forces for good and those that are not,” Mr. Budd wrote in the letter, which was exclusively obtained by The Washington Times. “Envisioning China as anything but one of those very same uncooperative authoritarian regimes is difficult, if not impossible.”
Last month, the Times and other outlets reported the White House heavily courted China to join its campaign to pressure Russia against an attack. To convince China, U.S. intelligence officials allegedly shared information on Russian troop movements near Ukraine’s border.
Government sources claim the intelligence-sharing started in December 2021 and continued up to the day that Russia invaded. They also say that instead of joining the U.S-backed pressure campaign, China opted to share the information with Russia.
Republicans argue that the White House’s purported decision to court China was flawed from the start given the communist power’s budding alliance with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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“Vladimir Putin is an international thug who is currently engaged in an unwarranted and brutal invasion of Ukraine. Russia should never be given an insider’s look at our country’s intelligence or strategy,” Mr. Budd said. “The Biden administration’s reckless sharing of sensitive information with a clear adversary like China, and its subsequent sharing with the Russians, is a massive unforced error and the American people deserve answers.”
Republican lawmakers are specifically interested in whether the intelligence-sharing may have aided Russia’s plans to invade Ukraine. They say the administration should brief lawmakers on the extent of its information sharing with China.
The White House did not respond to requests for comment on this story.
• Haris Alic can be reached at halic@washingtontimes.com.
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