Marco Rubio, Secretary of State
Politico is out with a very interesting report after it obtained a report showing guidance from new Secretary of State Marco Rubio. It says that — contrary to reports at the time — that yestrday’s executive order from Trump will cut off foreign aid to Ukraine.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio halted spending Friday on most existing foreign aid grants for 90 days. The order, which shocked State Department officials, appears to apply to funding for military assistance to Ukraine.
Rubio’s guidance, issued to all diplomatic and consular posts, requires department staffers to issue “stop-work orders” on nearly all “existing foreign assistance awards,” according to the document, which was obtained by POLITICO. It is effective immediately.
My guess here is that Politico got something wrong or there is some confusion at the State Dept because this goes directly against what they were saying.
The new guidance means no further actions will be taken to disperse aid funding to programs already approved by the U.S. government, according to three current and two former officials familiar with the new guidance.
Rubio has been a supporter of Ukraine and a hawk from the beginning so it would be an odd twist from him as well. That said, Trump lately has talked about pressuring Ukraine to accept some sort of peace.