Trump denies he was unaware of Ukraine weapons pause day after admitting he didn't know who ordered it
Responding to a question from a reporter about the decision being made without his consent on Wednesday (9 July), the US president said: 'I would know, if a decision is made I would be the first to know in fact most likely i'd give the order but I haven't done that yet.'
The Pentagon announced on June 30 that it would hold back some weapons pledged to Kyiv because of concerns that American stockpiles were running short on supply.
Asked by a reporter on Tuesday (8 July) on who authorised the pause, he appeared annoyed and replied: 'I don't know, you tell me.'
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But his return in the second Trump administration has proved controversial. He has argued consistently that America can no longer rely on massively outspending rivals. 'The fundamental reality is that there are structural limitations on what the United States can do – it cannot do everything at once,' he wrote in his 2021 book, The Strategy of Denial. 'Thus it must make hard choices.' His argument that defence resources should be reoriented away from Europe and the Middle East and towards China ignited a feud between Maga loyalists and hawkish conservative senators when his name was put forward earlier this year. Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Senator, led opposition to his nomination and highlighted some of Mr Colby's past comments on Iran, including how he had played down the threat of Tehran obtaining nuclear weapons. A nuclear-armed Iran could be contained, he argued in 2012, angering Israel's allies who, much like Mr Trump, see it as an existential threat. Opponents scoured his background for ammunition to prevent him taking up the position. They pointed to a grandfather who ran the CIA and degrees from Harvard University and Yale Law School, as evidence that he was too 'establishment' for the Trump administration. He was eventually confirmed with a Senate vote of 54 to 45, thanks to the backing of some heavy hitters from Trump world. Arthur Schwartz, an adviser to Donald Trump Jr who is also close to JD Vance, the vice-president, had responsibility for steering his nomination through the Senate. Key Trump confidants, such as Charlie Kirk, head of the Turning Point USA youth movement, spoke up in his support. And Mr Vance delivered a telling line at his confirmation hearing, setting out an 'America First' approach to Pentagon policy. 'We cannot fight wars unless our troops have the ammunition we need; we cannot defend our own national security unless we have the tank shells, the artillery shells and increasingly the drones and other advanced weapons that are necessary to actually fight battles when - God forbid - those battles are necessary to fight,' he said. After Mr Colby concluded his review last month, the US halted supplies of Patriot air defence systems, Hellfire air-to-ground missiles, missiles used by Himars rocket artillery, Stinger portable air defence systems and 155mm artillery shells promised by the Biden administration. 'This decision was made to put America's interests first following a [US department of defence] review of our nation's military support and assistance to other countries across the globe,' said Anna Kelly, a White House spokeswoman. Russia met the announcement with its biggest barrage of attacks on Ukraine in more than three years of war. One person was killed and 26 were wounded after waves of missiles and drones rained down on Thursday, prompting a phone call between Mr Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky. The US president reportedly told his Ukrainian counterpart that he did not know about the halt in supplies. By Monday the pause had been reversed. 'We're gonna send some more weapons. We have to,' Mr Trump told reporters. 'They have to be able to defend themselves. They're getting hit very hard now.' The reversal won praise from friends of Ukraine, even as some worried about the message the U-turn sent to the rest of the world. Mitch McConnell, who was until recently the leader of Republicans in the Senate, said: 'Today, the strategic incoherence of underfunding our military and restricting lethal assistance to partners like Ukraine is measured in the avoidable erosion of American credibility with allies and the mounting deaths of innocents.' Some of that stems from the administration's mix of traditional conservatives and Maga World iconoclasts, according to John Herbst, former US ambassador to Ukraine. 'Even if the pause was approved at no higher level than the under secretary of defence for policy or even the secretary of defence, it is a reminder that administration policy on Russia and Ukraine is put together with the input of people with vastly different worldviews,' he wrote in a paper for the Atlantic Council. And Mr Colby has his supporters. Steve Bannon, former chief strategist to Mr Trump, said pivoting away from Ukraine to China made more sense from an 'America First' perspective. 'This is key to our hemispheric defence, and we're being sucked dry,' he said, before drawing an analogy with the strikes on Iran. 'Bridge knows the process, once you supply the weapons, next thing you know you're a combatant like the 12-day war.'
