'Confused the United States with Russia’: Tuberville’s 'genuinely odd' claim mocked

27 November 2024

A claim made by U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), falsely characterizing the amount the United States military has spent on supporting Ukraine in its battle against Russia’s illegal invasion, is being widely mocked.

Senator Tuberville sits on the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee and three related sub-committees. He has portrayed himself as a huge military supporter, while blocking hundreds of military promotions for almost a year, and publicly denigrating some of those members of the U.S. Armed Forces.

“The United States has sent $211 BILLION of your tax dollars to Ukraine, 4X as much as the rest of the world COMBINED,” Tuberville wrote on the social media platform X earlier this week, only to receive a “Community Notes” correction.

That correction reads: “The $211 billion figure is the amount Russia has spent on the war as of February 2024. Senator Tuberville appears to have confused the United States with Russia.”

It points to a Reuters article that explains, “Russia has probably spent up to $211 billion in equipping, deploying and maintaining its troops for operations in Ukraine.”

BBC Verify senior journalist Shayan Sardarizadeh responded, writing: “It’s genuinely odd for a sitting US senator to be this wrong about such an important foreign policy issue.”

Ben Hodges, a retired U.S. Army officer who served as commanding general, United States Army Europe, responded, “Thoughts and prayers for the State of Alabama…”

Hodges appeared to be highlighting that a significant portion of the funds the U.S. has allocated under President Joe Biden to support Ukraine is ultimately handed to U.S. defense contractors, including several based in Senator Tuberville’s home state of Alabama.

Last year, a Washington Post opinion piece noted: “Ukraine aid’s best-kept secret: Most of the money stays in the U.S.A.”

AL.com Pulitzer-prize winning columnist Kyle Whitmire went one step further, noting that “Javelin missiles are manufactured in Troy, Ala.”

Max Kelly, a “recovering” Dept. of Defense analyst posted a graphic from the Germany-based think tank The Kiel Institute for the World Economy. He described Tuberville’s claim as “patently, verifiably false.”

Tuberville has a history of remarks disfavoring the U.S. and Ukraine in Russia’s war against that sovereign nation.

In February he appeared to blame the United States and NATO for “forcing” Russia to attack Ukraine.

“We forced this issue,” Tuberville said, according to MeidasTouch. “We kept forcing NATO all the way to eastern Europe and Putin just got tired of it. He said, ‘Listen, I do not want missiles on my border from the United States. It’d be like Russian coming to Mexico and putting missiles in Mexico. I can understand what he’s talking about. There should’ve been negotiations. This Administration does not know how to negotiate. Anthony Blinken, our Secretary of State? My gosh, is that the best we got?”

In September, Tuberville stood on the Senate floor and condemned Ukraine, claiming the country is “playing with fire” by defending itself against Russia and launching attacks on Moscow.

“Why?” he asked (video below). “You can’t win,” he told Ukraine.

“What are we trying to do, start World War III?”

Watch Senator Tuberville’s remarks below or at this link.

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