Note: This story was updated to include a statement from State Rep. Austin Theriault.
Democratic Congressman Jared Golden (ME-02) released a statement Monday accusing House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) of not wanting to secure the border and of preferring a victory for Vladimir Putin in Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Rep. Golden’s accusations follow the Sunday release of a Senate border security and foreign aid package that would direct roughly $60 billion in aid to Ukraine, alongside $14.1 billion in security assistance to Israel.
[RELATED: ‘Dead on Arrival:’ Senate Border and Foreign Aid Package Faces Immediate Backlash…]
House Speaker Johnson said the Senate deal is “worse than we expected” and that the bill would be “dead on arrival” in the House.
Instead of the Senate deal, which ties border security funds to foreign aid to both Ukraine and Israel, Johnson has proposed a stand-alone $17.6 billion aid package to Israel.
“It seems like Speaker Johnson prefers to talk about securing the border than to do anything about it,” Golden wrote in his Monday statement.
“And [Johnson’s] unwillingness to allow a vote on aid for Ukraine suggests that he prefers a Russian victory in that conflict, despite Putin’s decade-long effort to undermine America’s democracy and economy both at home and abroad,” Golden wrote.
[RELATED: Jared Golden Signs Letter Urging Biden Admin to Send More Weapons to Ukraine…]
Golden’s statement that Johnson has taken the side of Vladimir Putin for opposing the compromise Senate deal marks an escalation in rhetoric from his previous statement that former President Donald Trump and GOP leaders were using the border issue as a “campaign tool against the Democrats.”
Earlier in January, before the details of the Senate deal were made public, Golden appeared to place more blame on President Joe Biden for the crisis at the southern border, calling on the Biden administration to “enforce the immigration laws.”
“I continue to support aid for Israel it its war against Hamas, just as I supported it in the prior bill with offsets,” Golden continued in his Monday statement. “But Congress should be able to do more than one thing at once.”
Maine State Rep. Mike Soboleski (R-Phillips), who is currently running in the 2024 Republican primary for Maine’s 2nd District, said Monday that “Jared Golden owns the Biden broken border policy.”
“Joe Biden broke the border through Executive Order in his first days in office,” Soboleski said. “This bill is an election year attempt to make Democrats look like borderhawks when they are not.”
“In the real world this bill does nothing to curb unsustainable border crossing by foreign nationals,” he added. “It gives another $60 billion to Ukraine and ties the hands of a future President to fix this mess.”
In contrast to Golden’s statement that “Congress should be able to do more than one thing at once,” Soboleski said “We need stand alone bills in DC to truly have honest debate on big policy issues.”
State Rep. Austin Theriault (R-Fort Kent), who is competing against Soboleski in the 2024 CD2 Republican primary, also weighed in on Golden’s statement.
“This is a perfect example of Jared Golden saying one thing while doing another,” Theriault told the Maine Wire Monday. “When he had the chance to secure the border, he voted against H.R. 2, which would finish the border wall, crack down on visa overstays, beef up the Border Patrol, and much more.”
[RELATED: Maine CD-2 Challenger Austin Theriault Collects Over $350,000 in Donations Through End of 2023…]
“There’s a clear difference in this race: I will fight to secure our northern and southern border. Jared will talk about the problem, but he’s been down there for years and he has opposed the solution again and again,” Theriault said.
“This is what the people are sick and tired of: political games to get re-elected rather than real action,” he added. “And when it comes to Ukraine, Jared Golden favors a ‘blank check’ approach. That’s the wrong approach — Mainers should come first.”
AS expected, Golden shows his true colors as a Democrat that marches to his orders from his masters.
Why doesn’t Eddie Munster the Serbian spy mention that Mike Johnson has voted against every single aid package for Ukraine? Maybe the boy spy doesn’t want you to know how crooked Maga Mike is! 🤣🤣🤣🤣. “Why does MAGA Mike Johnson oppose aid to Ukraine? Follow the money. Rubles that is.
“A group of Russian nationals donated to newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson’s campaign in 2018… One of the men behind the company, Nikolaev, an oligarch with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, was also found to have financially backed Maria Butina, a Russian citizen. Butina was sentenced to 18 months in prison in 2019 after admitting to acting as an unregistered foreign agent to infiltrate conservative political groups and influence foreign policy to Russia’s benefit before and after the 2016 election.” – Newsweek
Follow the money, and Russian influence operations into the Trump campaign and the GOP with this relationship map.
American Ethane – majority owned by Russians
Three Russian nationals owned 88% of American Ethane: Konstantin Nikolaev, Mikhail Yuriev and Andrey Kunatbaev. “Worth slightly more than $1 billion, Mr. Nikolaev, together with two partners, owns about a third of Globaltrans, one of Russia’s largest rail car operators, and the trio recently sold a major stake in a port business. He also sits on the board of American Ethane.” – NY Times
Nikolaev, an oligarch with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, was also found to have financially backed Maria Butina, a Russian citizen. Butina was sentenced to 18 months in prison in 2019 after admitting to acting as an unregistered foreign agent to infiltrate conservative political groups and influence foreign policy to Russia’s benefit before and after the 2016 election.
“Putin pal Konstantin Nikolaev, who handled Russian spy Maria Butina, was also the principal stockholder in American Ethane Co. when they donated over $37,000 to Mike Johnson’s election campaign. Does anyone else think that might be a problem?” –
On immigration read the bill Jared. Then debate your next opponent. People I trust have persuaded me it is bad for our country. The we must do something mantra is not working for you.
My solution ? Just enforce laws on the books like Trump did. I know this all seems so quaint.
The speaker a separate bill for Israel
Vote for it.
Then the Ukraine will be decided. I know. Running out of time. Same old ludicrous maneuvering. Sick of it.
Said the Congressman who takes money from Soros.
Oh please…the same old tired Russia nonsense again….wash, rinse, repeat. As usual, the democommies try to deflect attention away from the core issue. Their border policy is a hot mess, a complete and total failure unless you’re big ag looking to exploit cheap labor or a cartel looking for women and kids to sell into the sex slave trade.
Millions of illegals ushered into America, given freestuff, funded by our tax dollars, while legal Americans struggle to pay their bills.
Jared Golden is a puppet dancing to the tune of his Soros master.
Hey Jared, Biden can secure the border anytime he wants. And lets separate the bills, one for Ukraine aid, one for the the border etc. This is a war bill not a border bill.
Glad to see he has some original thoughts, lol.
Golden and the rest of them want to protect foreign countries borders but not ours..That tells us everything we need to know
A clear example of Golden’s ignorance and stupidity. Golden is the one that takes contributions from America hater Communist George Soros.
Jarad who got to you–Sorois?
Golden needs to be sent packing come November, he doesn’t support Maine values,….
Where is the censorious tyrant King on this?
l m sure he wants to remain comfortable as one of the most anonymous Senators in the country
He ll call big tech on the down low to clamp down on dissent from the shadows again
What I find most troubling but not surprising is Jared Golden’s biggest concern is Ukraine won’t get what he believes it deserves. My question for Rep. Golden is where’s your bill, sir? If you believe this is of such importance to our national security, why haven’t you put forward single issue bill to send sixty billion dollars to Ukraine? My guess why we’ve not seen your bill is because you know it wouldn’t pass without being attached to a ” border security bill.”
Mainer here – Jared Golden is an insect striving to intentionally damage as much grain as possible; the epitome of being bought and sold.
We don’t need another border bill. How about enforcing the laws that we currently have? We don’t need to spends billions to pass a bill that doesn’t secure our border. By the way, when did the President make a case for the Ukraine war and when did Congress vote on it? There has been no accounting of the billions and billions sent already. I remember when Congress told President Trump that there wasn’t enough money to fund the border wall. Golden’s gotta go!
Golden suffers from Dem derangement syndrome.