releases: https://www.portman.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=A2857449-2865-41EF-801D-BAA4F0F9A90A
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
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| https://www.portman.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=A2857449-2865-41EF-801D-BAA4F0F9A90A | On MSNBC, Portman Backs Ukraine & Discusses His Foreign Counter-Propaganda Bill | 2016-12-09 | 2016 | 2016-12 | Republican | House | OH | Rob Portman | P000449 | www.portman.senate.gov | legacy | During an interview on MSNBC’s Morning Joe this morning, Senator Portman discussed his efforts to support Ukraine in the face of continued Russian aggression. He noted the letter he spearheaded yesterday with a bipartisan group of 27 senators calling on President-elect Trump to back Ukraine and increase political, economic, and military support for the country. And he discussed his counter-propaganda bill – which was included the FY 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) conference report that passed the Senate yesterday – that is designed to help American allies counter foreign government propaganda from Russia, China, and other nations. Transcript of the interview can be found below and you can watch the interview here. Anchor: OK go ahead. Portman: Well, it’s interesting. Yesterday, it was reported that a bunch of us sent a letter to the new administration regarding Ukraine and regarding Russia’s activity on the eastern border of Ukraine and Crimea. This is another example where America, I think, has not played the leadership role that we have traditionally played, and the consequences have been terrible. Not just for Ukraine, but for other countries watching, particularly in eastern Europe, and wondering, where is NATO? Where is America? I think we need to stand up and be counted. … Reporter: I wanted to ask you, Senator, if you believed the President-elect shared your views and compassion on this issue and the plight of people in Syria and in Ukraine? Portman: I hope so. I know he met or spoke with President Poroshenko and agreed to visit with President Poroshenko, the president of Ukraine. He’s learning more about some parts of the world like that, where the Obama administration’s philosophy, which as you recall, famously, early on, was leading from behind has not made the world safer but more dangerous and volatile. Reporter: I wanted to ask you about Russia because there’s a number of your colleagues on the hill, senators saying they’re going to look into the role that Russia may have played in meddling in our election, perhaps the hacking of the DNC, other rumors about hacking of our election system. Are you supportive of that effort? What do you hope is uncovered by that? How would you see it playing out? Portman: Well, sure I’m supportive of looking into it. You may know that in the defense bill that was just passed yesterday in the Senate, has already passed the House, now going to the president, there’s language regarding disinformation campaigns and specifically reorganizing the U.S. government so we can better respond to that. Right now, other than radio free Europe, we really don’t have much of an effort to try to counteract what’s going on around the world. Some of it is Russia, some of it is China, some of it is other countries, but if you go to eastern Europe, as an example, much of what they’re concerned about is the disinformation and the propaganda. I do think we need to be much more responsive to that as a government, and particularly online, where we’re not sophisticated, and other countries are. I think there’s a number of things we could do, certainly investigating any foreign countries interference in our election system is important, but also having the U.S. itself be able to push back against disinformation and get the truth out there to people over the world. ### | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |