Column: Issa lays into Biden more than Putin over Ukraine, gives Trump a pass

During his first year back in Congress, Rep. Darrell Issa has been a regular critic of President Joe Biden.

But his barbs have become sharper about both the president’s policies and character regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

At one point, Issa seemed to mock the president for a brief visit to his home state of Delaware during the crisis, contending Biden “abandoned the capital!”

In ubiquitous social media posts, interviews with conservative outlets and comments in foreign publications, Issa has laid much of the blame for the Russian invasion on Biden. He has criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin, but even then tends to quickly pivot to what he contends are Biden’s shortcomings.

The San Diego County congressional member makes no mention of former President Donald Trump, whom Issa and other Republicans sought to keep in office for an illegitimate second term when they unsuccessfully attempted to overturn Biden’s 2020 election victory.

That’s not surprising, given Trump’s record of siding with Putin at virtually every turn, attempting to weaken Ukraine politically and militarily, and undermining NATO.

“This is a defining moment for an Administration that manifestly failed to assemble a coalition of allies and partners to keep and secure the peace,” Issa said on Twitter last week.

The reality is that Biden has revitalized the U.S.-European coalition, which Trump tried to diminish. The former president’s efforts had something to do with the inability to “secure the peace,” though there are legitimate questions about whether the U.S. and its allies post-Trump presidency could have done more to stop or blunt the invasion.

It will take time to determine how effective the unified sanctions will be against Russia, not to mention the likely economic fallout in the U.S. and elsewhere across the globe.

To be clear, Issa has not praised Putin as Trump has. In fact, he has described the Russian president in harsh terms while suggesting weakness from the U.S. and its allies.

“When Ukraine gave away its nuclear weapons, the U.S. and Britain promised to defend them. If we turn around and let them be taken by a thug like Putin, we send a strong message to the rest of the world — and it is not a good message,” Issa said in another Twitter post.

He has not publicly advocated for direct U.S. military action in the conflict, but urged sending American weaponry to Ukraine.

Issa is a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee who was elected in the East County-based 50th Congressional District in 2020. He had represented a North County district from 2001-2019 but declined to run for re-election there in the face of stiff opposition and political demographics that were trending against him.

After a year away from Congress, he won the 50th seat, which had been vacated by Republican Duncan Hunter, who pleaded guilty in a campaign finance scandal and resigned. Issa is the only Republican in San Diego County’s five-member congressional delegation.

Issa’s comments and online posts pertaining to Biden have alternated between snide takes and serious criticism of the president’s response to the Ukraine crisis.

“Not hearing much from the smart set in D.C. that promised a Biden White House would mean a return to Russian deterrence,” Issa tweeted on Feb. 24, just hours after Russia launched the invasion of Ukraine.

Later in the day, he put out a fuller statement with a decidedly different tone, one mirrored by other Republicans.

“This is a disastrous day for free nations everywhere and a direct assault by tyranny and aggression that will compel the world to take notice,” Issa said. “. . . At this time, the credibility of this White House is on the line, and we need the kind of leadership from the President that we clearly have yet to see.

“America should stand with Ukraine and its people in their hour of need. They are not alone in this fight. America and NATO are being tested. And at this moment, they are failing that test.”

Here’s a smattering of Issa’s other Twitter posts:

• “You better believe I’m concerned President Biden isn’t up to this.”
• “This would be a good time for American energy Independence”
• “Biden’s weakness has made the world an even more dangerous place.”
• “Just when we need a President Reagan, we’re getting a President Carter.”
• “Replace Russian oil and gas with American.”
• “The state of our union is fine. The state of the Biden Administration is chaos.”
• “The free world is choosing to help the Ukrainians fight for their freedom. Why is Biden holed up out of sight in Delaware?”

Biden’s Delaware visit last weekend almost seemed a borderline obsession for Issa, who devoted several tweets to the trip. (A week earlier, the president canceled a trip there as Russian forces prepared to mount the invasion.)

For some time, Biden has taken heat from conservatives for trips away from the White House — mostly to Delaware — just as Trump had from liberals for his regular golf outings at country clubs he owns.

At the Conservative Political Action Conference last weekend, a reporter for the British news organization The Independent sought a reaction to the invasion from another member of Congress, who suggested Biden’s “weakness” was partially responsible for Putin’s aggression. The nearby Issa seemed to jokingly disagree.

“He’s gone back to Delaware — there is no weakness in the White House, he abandoned the capital!” Issa was quoted as saying.

The White House said the president was attending a family memorial service, but did not give details. The Independent cited an obituary in the Wilmington News-Journal indicating that the mother-in-law of the president’s late son, Beau Biden, died on Feb. 20.

It’s not clear whether Issa knew about the reason for Biden’s visit. He declined my request for an interview.

Whether Biden has made the right calls during this crisis will be subject to ongoing debate. But there’s no question he is helping Ukraine and has rallied much of the world to do the same — in stark contrast to what Trump did before him.

Greg Sargent of The Washington Post recently listed a handful moves by Trump beyond trying to pressure Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to dig up dirt on Biden’s family. Among them: spreading the propaganda that it was Ukraine meddling in the 2016 election instead of Russia, recalling a respected U.S. ambassador from Ukraine and freezing military assistance to Ukraine.

Trump also essentially turned over Ukraine policy to Rudy Giuliani, who Sargent called “the ringleader of the scheme to pressure Ukraine into helping Trump further corrupt our own elections.”

Trump also wanted to pull the U.S. out of NATO, according to former aides.

Were it not for the failure of election skullduggery supported by Issa, that’s the guy who could be managing the U.S. response to the crisis in Ukraine today.