The White House Didn’t Approve It. Now Congress—and Trump—Are Asking Who Did.
A rogue Pentagon move.
Something just cracked in Washington—and it may have started here.
Less than 24 hours after The Concis questioned whether Under Secretary of Defense Elbridge Colby acted without proper protocols in halting U.S. weapons shipments to Ukraine, Republican Congressman Don Bacon publicly echoed the concern. “Congress wants answers here,” he posted on X, directly naming Colby and asking whether the decision was made “on his own without approval.”
Bacon stated that President Trump was neither notified nor did he authorize the freeze. If true, this isn’t just a policy breakdown—it’s a potential case of freelance wartime decision-making at the heart of the Pentagon.
Congress wants answers. Europe wants answers. Ukraine wants answers.
We want answers.
And yet, before the administration could clarify who signed off on the weapons freeze—or whether anyone did at all—President Trump moved to contain the fallout himself. He first spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and later told reporters he was disappointed that Putin had refused a ceasefire. Then, Trump picked up the phone and called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Two sources familiar with the exchange told Axios the call lasted approximately 40 minutes and focused on the deteriorating situation on the ground. One source said Trump appeared fully briefed on the recent Russian escalation, including air strikes on Ukrainian cities and intensified attacks along the front. According to the source, “Trump said he wants to help with air defense and that he will check what was put on hold, if anything.”
The Ukrainian side, meanwhile, confirmed that both leaders agreed to initiate follow-up meetings between U.S. and Ukrainian teams to discuss resuming air defense coordination and broader weapons supply lines.
Further corroboration came from Zelensky himself, who addressed the call in a recent social media post. Here’s what he said about his conversation with the U.S. President.
I had a very important and fruitful conversation with @POTUS . I congratulated President Trump and the entire American people on the US Independence Day.
We - in Ukraine - are grateful for all the support provided. It helps us protect lives, safeguard our freedom and independence. We have achieved a lot together with America and we support all efforts to stop the killings and restore just, lasting, and dignified peace. A noble agreement for peace is needed.
Today we discussed the current situation, including Russian airstrikes and the broader frontline developments. President Trump is very well informed, and I thank him for his attention to Ukraine. We spoke about opportunities in air defense and agreed that we will work together to strengthen protection of our skies. We have also agreed to a meeting between our teams.
We had a detailed conversation about defense industry capabilities and joint production. We are ready for direct projects with the United States and believe this is critically important for security, especially when it comes to drones and related technologies.
We also touched on mutual procurement and investment. Finally, we exchanged views on the diplomatic situation and joint work with the U.S. and other partners.
Thank you!
What can I say?
Colby made a rookie mistake—one that’s hard to explain at this level. That’s the only way to read this. There are things you do in government—and things you absolutely don’t. He didn’t even back up his own justification: that shipments were halted due to dwindling U.S. stockpiles. If you’re going to make that case, then make it airtight. But the aid package he froze? It was anything but that.
Shortly after the stoppage, the Joint Staff conducted a formal review and delivered a clear verdict: “Providing continued assistance to Ukraine would not drain U.S. supplies below a required threshold needed to ensure military readiness.”
Ouch.
Let’s pause and drill into what just happened. If Elbridge Colby had followed protocol—if he had consulted the relevant parts of the administration and gotten the proper assessments—then the Joint Staff’s conclusion would have aligned with his decision. By now, he would have had a formal letter on file warning that continued shipments would compromise readiness.
But the Joint Staff said the exact opposite.
That leaves only one real possibility: either Colby didn’t take their advice—or he didn’t ask them at all. Which means this wasn’t a coordinated government action.
It was a unilateral move, done off-script.
And the evidence just keeps piling up.
Officials at the Department of Defense are now bending over backwards to fix this. But there’s not much they can do. The moment the Joint Staff concluded that continued weapons flow would not compromise U.S. defense readiness, Colby’s entire justification collapsed. The very case he used to halt shipments is now officially moot.
Shipments will resume. I suspect they’ve already started. To save face, officials will keep their mouths shut for a while, then pretend none of this ever happened.
But that can’t be allowed.
Congress needs to put its foot down and demand answers. It’s the only way to stop these people from playing games with wartime policy. Because they’re not going to stop on their own.
They never do.
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Great News Shankar, but are you definitely sure the shipments will resume? Here’s Trump on Air-force One today sounding off:
“US President Donald Trump said that Russian leader Vladimir Putin “wants to go all the way and just keep killing people,” and hinted that the United States “might” send Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine to bolster Kyiv’s defenses, according to his comment made onboard Air Force One on July 5.”—United24 Media
Operative word is “might!” We’ve seen this movie before; he hurts or undermines Ukraine, then he states, “Russia is killing people and may not want to stop.”
However, when it comes to actually doing anything constructive; he pauses, draws a new line in the sand without Russia paying even an iota of a price for breaking Trump’s last redline, and then moves on as though its business as usual, with no resistance or follow-up from the MSM.
Furthermore, I’ve read nothing that suggests these Patriot Batteries are forthcoming any time soon. Perhaps they will be sent to save face, but the underlining issue still remains; Is Trump finally committed to ending this war he said would be over on DAY ONE, or is this just another “ruse” to buy more time for Putin to figure out how to move forward successfully?
Bottom line: time will tell, but until I see concrete steps by Trump’s administration to put their foot down against Russia’s illegal aggression; I’ll continue to hold my breath!
Additionally, as I’ve stated yesterday, if it truly is Trump’s goal to turn this country into a fascist authoritarian state, then it must be understood that fascist states don’t play nice with democracies; their stated goal is to undermine their system and replace them with puppets; which means all of Europe.
And from my perspective, the jury is still out as to how well Putin has found success with his new US proxy. After all, until this year I never thought the US and Israel would side with Russia, China, Hungary and N. Korea; when denying Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty at the UN!
Nor did I expect we’d see masked federal officials and contractors pulling people off the streets of American cities and deported to internment camps in third countries, or US troops deployed domestically for no apparent reason or purpose.
Whether we acknowledge it or not, our country is changing before our eyes, and anyone in denial is suffering from “normalcy bias,” because nothing we are experiencing today, is normal!
That said, I do hope Shankar is right, and this could be a turning point for US interest and commitments in regard to Ukraine. IMHO…:)
As you noted, 'Colby made a rookie mistake.' This is chilling, standing as it does as a symptom of the current chaos at the heart of the Trump so-called administration. Are they administrating rookie chaos? It sure seems that way, and not only when it comes to decisions affecting Ukraine. As anyone knows, its oh so much harder to construct something than to wreck it. I also noted that President Zelenskyy has learned the delicate art of supporting Trump's bubble-like ego while urging him to do the right thing. I suggest that, when Ukraine finally emerges victorious from this war, he be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for that and so many other acts of heroism.