WASHINGTON, D.C. — To mark the third anniversary of Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) today joined CBS’s 60 Minutes to discuss the ongoing war, as well as the threat of America possibly withdrawing its support to the democratic nation and Ukrainian people in their fight for survival. During the nationally-broadcast interview with Scott Pelley, King highlighted the will of the Ukrainian people to protect their homeland, and how America’s identity in the free world as supporting its partners would suffer greatly if it backed away from Ukraine’s defense. Given the hostile exchange between President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Zelenskyy on Friday and the erosion of Republican support on Capitol Hill, King emphasized the stakes of this moment by saying “if we persist in walking away from Ukraine, it will be the greatest geopolitical mistake that this country has made since World War II.”

You can watch the Sen. King-specific excerpt on YouTube here

You can watch the full clip on YouTube here

Senator King has been a vocal supporter for Ukraine, voting in support of a bipartisan aid bill last February that helps Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan defend themselves by investing in American manufacturing and the American defense industrial base. In the days prior to the vote, he spoke on the Senate floor to his colleague that Ukraine’s fight is a “battle for the soul of Democracy in the world.”  Senator King also previously travelled with Armed Services Chairmen Jack Reed (D-R) in a visit to meet Ukraine President Vladimir Zelenskyy in Kiev. In a SASC hearing, Senator King warned of the parallels between 1930s Nazi propaganda and present day Russian misinformation campaigns designed to influence U.S. support for Ukraine.

Senator King has been consistently sounding the alarm on President Donald Trump’s existential threat to the Constitution. At the end of January, he gave a speech on the Senate floor sharing that this administration is doing ‘exactly what the Framers [of the Constitution] most feared.” A couple weeks later, he took to the floor again to respond to the hiring freezes and firings, calling them “thoughtless and dangerous.” Senator King also previously declared that the proposal to halt all federal grant and loan disbursement was illegal and a direct assault on the Constitution. Recently, he joined 36 Senators in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, sharing the detrimental effects of  the Trump Administration’s dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). He also joined fellow Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) colleagues in writing a letter to the White House about the risks to national security by allowing unvetted Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staff and representatives to access classified and sensitive government materials.

A full transcript of the interview is available here.

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