House GOP accuses Kamala Harris of using Zelensky as campaign surrogate, launches foreign interference inquiry
WASHINGTON — House Republicans launched an investigation Wednesday of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to battleground Pennsylvania this week — describing it as an apparent campaign stop to benefit Vice President Kamala Harris.Oversight Committee chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) demanded communications about Zelensky’s visit to a Scranton ammunition factory with Pennsylvania Democratic Gov.Josh Shapiro, a key supporter of the Democratic presidential nominee.Comer likened Zelensky’s Sunday trip — during which the Ukrainian leader was flown on an Air Force C-17 cargo jet — to former President Donald Trump’s pressure on Zelensky to investigate alleged corruption by President Biden’s family, for which Trump was impeached in 2019.“The Biden-Harris Administration recently flew the same foreign leader — Ukrainian President VolodymyrZelensky—on an American-taxpayer-funded flight to Pennsylvania, a battleground state in the upcoming 2024 presidential election, which has been described as the ‘trickiest battleground for Vice President Kamala Harris to win.'” Comer wrote in his demand for documents.“The Committee seeks to determine whether the Biden-Harris Administration attempted to use a foreign leader to benefit Vice President Harris’s presidential campaign and, if so, necessarily committed an abuse of power.”The Scranton Times-Tribune reported that journalists were not allowed to accompany Zelensky as he toured the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant, which produces 155mm artillery shells for howitzer systems used by Ukraine — but images of the visit were distributed to the media along with Army press release quotes.The Census Bureau estimates that Pennsylvania has the country’s second-highest population of Ukrainian-Americans, at nearly 100,000.Trump lost Pennsylvania by 80,555 votes in 2020.“The Committee seeks to understand the circumstances that led — and any facts that could justify — the Biden-Harris Administration to...