Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene speaks during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference at the Gaylord National Resort Hotel and Convention Center on March 3, 2023, in National Harbor, Maryland. In inset, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks to the media during a press conference on February 24, 2023, in Kyiv, Ukraine. Anna Moneymaker/Valentyna Polishchuk/Global Images Ukraine
Under Article 5 of the NATO treaty, allies are to view "an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all." Ukraine is not a member of NATO.
In the complete remarks from last month's news conference, Zelensky said during the briefing that marked the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. "If it happens so that Ukraine, due to various opinions and weakening, depleting of assistance, loses, Russia is going to enter Baltic states, NATO member states, and then the U.S. will have to send their sons and daughters exactly the same way as we are sending their sons and daughters to war.
"They will have to fight. Because it's NATO that we're talking about, and they will be dying, God forbid, because it's a horrible thing."
Although social media claims that Zelensky was calling on American troops to fight in Ukraine have been debunked, Greene promoted the narrative more than once during her CPAC address.
"I'm still committed to saying, 'No money to Ukraine, and that country needs to find peace not war,'" Greene said on Friday. "I will look at a camera and directly tell Zelensky, 'You better leave your hands off our sons and daughters, because they're not dying over there.'"
This year's CPAC has received national attention over the attendee list. Although the conference has long touted itself as "the largest and most influential gathering of conservatives in the world," a number of prominent Republicans, who have been seen as possible 2024 presidential hopefuls, opted not to attend the four-day event, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin and South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem.
"It's a missed opportunity for any potential presidential candidate to not address the thousands of grassroots activists at CPAC this year," conference spokesperson Megan Powers Small told ABC News last weekend.
CPAC has also drawn controversy after its chairman, Matt Schlapp, was accused of sexually assaulting a former staff member of Herschel Walker's 2022 Senate campaign. Schlapp has denied the allegation.
