David Cameron's effort to convince former President Donald Trump to allow the U.S. Congress to advance $60 billion in military aid for Ukraine seems unsuccessful, as the U.K. foreign secretary was denied a meeting with congressional speaker Mike Johnson, the Guardian reports.
During a private dinner at Trump's Florida retreat, Mar-a-Lago, Cameron had pressed Trump to acknowledge the importance of not rewarding Vladimir Putin for annexing Ukrainian territory, emphasizing that it was in the United States' best interest.
Cameron stressed the need for every NATO member to meet or exceed the defense spending target by the time of the NATO summit in Washington in July. He hoped that Trump would indicate a shift in approach, potentially by facilitating a meeting between him and Johnson.
During a joint press conference in Washington on April 9, Cameron and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated their ongoing appeals for Congress to unlock the assistance.
Cameron emphasized that he had not come to the U.S. to lecture or interfere in internal American politics, but expressed willingness to abandon diplomatic language due to his strong emotional conviction about the imperative for the U.S. and Europe to unite in defense of Ukraine against Russian aggression.
“Future generations may look back at us and say, did we do enough when this country was invaded by a dictator trying to redraw boundaries by force? Did we learn the lessons from history? And did we do enough?” Cameron said.
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