Speaker Johnson calls for Ukrainian ambassador to be fired

House Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday demanded that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy remove Oksana Markarova from her position as Ambassador. Johnson said a trip she planned for Zelenskyy to visit a factory in Pennsylvania amounted to a partisan campaign event and election interference. Zelenskyy on Sunday visited an ammunition plant in Scranton and met with Democrats including Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., and Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Pa. The facility produces 155 mm artillery shells that Ukraine uses in its fight against Russia.

Why does Johnson say the event was partisan? Shapiro is a political surrogate for Vice President Kamala Harris, and Pennsylvania is a key battleground state in the presidential election, Johnson wrote in a letter to Zelenskyy. No Republican representatives attended the event and Johnson said Markarova intentionally did not invite any Republicans.

What have other politicians said? House Oversight and Accountability Chair James Comer, R-Ky., on Wednesday opened an inquiry into Zelenskyy’s trip. He claimed that the Biden-Harris administration used taxpayer funds to fly Zelenskyy to Pennsylvania aboard an Air Force aircraft. Meanwhile, another group of House Republicans called on the Justice Department and the Pentagon to investigate the trip. Sen. Casey called attempts to smear the visit a disgrace. Zelenskyy has not commented on the situation.

Dig deeper: Read Josh Schumacher’s report in The Sift about Zelenskyy’s address to the United Nations.