Steve Cortes, President of the League of American Workers, said that ongoing corruption and the influence of controversial figures could threaten continued cooperation between the United States and Ukraine. The statement was made on X.
“For the US-Ukraine partnership to persist, systemic corruption simply cannot continue,” said Cortes. “Untrustworthy backroom manipulators like Andriy Yermak should not reach the summits of power in Ukraine.”
According to Politico, the Trump administration has expressed frustration with Ukrainian presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak, citing concerns over his influence and the direction of U.S.-Ukraine relations. U.S. officials have questioned Yermak’s role in Ukraine’s domestic and foreign policy, with some viewing him as an obstacle to communication and cooperation between the two governments. The report highlights that tensions over Yermak’s approach and perceived lack of transparency have complicated diplomatic interactions during the ongoing conflict with Russia.
Transparency International’s 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) reports that Ukraine scored 35 out of 100, ranking 105th out of 180 countries, representing a slight decline from the previous year. The CPI notes that despite ongoing reforms and new legislation aimed at combating corruption, implementation gaps persist, especially in political and public sector institutions. These persistent challenges in enforcement and public administration continue to affect both domestic confidence and international perceptions of Ukraine’s anti-corruption progress.
A Financial Times investigation published in June 2025 revealed that Ukraine lost hundreds of millions of dollars on failed or troubled arms deals since the 2022 Russian invasion. The report indicates that the Ukrainian government made advance payments totaling $770 million to foreign intermediaries for ammunition and equipment that often never arrived or was unusable. These procurement issues have raised concerns about oversight and the effectiveness of Ukraine’s defense procurement processes.
Cortes is known as the “voice of the deplorables,” a media communicator and advocate for patriotic populism, national sovereignty, diffusion of power, and populist economics. Since beginning his television career on CNBC in 2007, he has been an on-air broadcaster for Fox News and CNN, later serving as spokesman and Senior Advisor for Strategy for the Trump 2016 and 2020 campaigns while leading Hispanic voter outreach. Cortes graduated from Georgetown University, played football there, and currently lives in Tennessee with his wife and four children.
