On Saturday afternoon, Vice President Kamala Harris spoke at the DNC Winter Meeting in Washington, D.C., after returning from Poland, in the midst of Eastern Europe and the world being rocked by Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. As Landon covered earlier, the vice president made some eyebrow-raising remarks about how voters "got what they ordered." Her comments about NATO also raised some suspicion, including with the White House, considering that the transcript includes an edit.
"So I will say what I know we all say, and I will say over and over again: The United States stands firmly with the Ukrainian people [and] in defense of the NATO Alliance," Harris said to applause, according to the official White House transcript. The "and" was added after the fact, as indicated by brackets.
Our friends at Twitchy highlighted a clip as well as reactions to Harris' comments, which shows her remarks as delivered being "So I will say what I know we all say, and I will say over and over again: The United States stands firmly with the Ukrainian people, in defense of the NATO Alliance."
Kamala thinks Ukraine is part of NATO.
— Brick Suit (@Brick_Suit) March 12, 2022
Just when you thought you knew how unqualified she is, she lowers the bar even further. pic.twitter.com/52XCAXwFv2
While Harris' commitment to standing with the people of Ukraine may be admirable, screwing up the facts about the NATO alliance is not something one ought to communicate she will say, and thinks others will say, "over and over again."
Ukraine had attempted to get into NATO, especially as the Russian invasion loomed closer, but before it happened, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in February calling for a "clear" timeline on when he could join. However, earlier this month, Zelensky indicated he is no longer pressing to join.
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According to a report from AFP:
"I have cooled down regarding this question a long time ago after we understood that ... NATO is not prepared to accept Ukraine," Zelensky said in an interview aired Monday night on ABC News.
"The alliance is afraid of controversial things, and confrontation with Russia," the president added.
Referring to NATO membership, Zelensky said through an interpreter that he does not want to be president of a "country which is begging something on its knees."
Before running for president, Zelensky was an actor and a comedian, starring in a show from 2015-2019 known as "Servant of the People. In the show, he plays a school teacher who becomes president of Ukraine after his students encouraged him to run for president once a clip of him cursing out corruption goes viral.
There's a memorable moment in the show in which NATO calls him by mistake to tell him his application to join has been approved, when the call was really intended for Montenegro.
I can’t wrap my mind around the existence of this clip. pic.twitter.com/1XvBYWlMxg
— Vera Bergengruen (@VeraMBergen) March 2, 2022
There are currently 30 countries that are NATO members. The NATO alliance was formed to protect Western Europe from the Soviet Union.
Twitchy had also covered a since-deleted tweet from actress Patricia Arquette to "Kick Russia out of NATO." Arquette went on to blame her dyslexia and claim she meant Russia should be kicked out of the United Nations.
I’m dyslexic. It’s in my bio and has been for years. A couple 14 hour work days laters and I flipped NATO and UN. You will live. pic.twitter.com/VIV2Un5Zo1
— Patricia Arquette (@PattyArquette) March 5, 2022
The Biden administration has been assisting Ukraine with sanctions, though they've come later than Zelensky had asked for. On Saturday, President Joe Biden also authorized an additional $200 million in aid.
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