When Russia invaded Ukraine, Steven Moore hurried to Kyiv even as observers predicted the smaller nation’s quick fall. Three years later, the former House GOP leadership aide is still there, helping deliver relief aid through his nonprofit, the Ukraine Freedom Project. But Moore’s coming back to Washington more often these days to bring his message to Congress and rally Republican support.
Moore, who forged strong ties to Ukraine doing public opinion research there in 2018, holds out hope that the isolationists currently advising President Donald Trump won’t hold his ear for much longer, and that the White House won’t continue to parrot Vladimir Putin’s false line that Ukraine provoked the war. As he tries to inform his old congressional contacts about the horrors unfolding on Putin’s orders, Moore said he was heartened that while some Republicans were starting to speak out, most weren’t crossing the president publicly. “The private conversations, the behind-the-scenes stuff, is more effective,” said the ex-Hill staffer, who once worked for Peter Roskam, R-Ill, then chief deputy whip.
Moore spoke with Roll Call last Thursday, before the U.S. voted with Russia against a U.N. resolution calling for Moscow to remove its troops from Ukraine. At the time, he acknowledged that his optimism might look outdated by the time this interview would run — or maybe not, if conservatives push back. “If you don’t like what Trump says, wait a few weeks,” he joked.
