Was Zelenskyy's Pennsylvania visit ‘election interference’? Why experts say no

Echoing an attack by Vice President JD Vance, a Facebook post said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy interfered in the 2024 presidential election.

"Zelenskyy is an ungrateful foreigner who engaged in election interference by campaigning for Kamala (Harris) in (Pennsylvania)," said text on the March 1 Facebook Reel posted by Scotty Moore, a Republican who lost a 2023 Florida House race and a 2022 congressional race. The post also included a March "Fox and Friends" clip showing Zelenskyy’s September 2024 visit to a Scranton, Pennsylvania, ammunition plant. 

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We contacted Moore for comment but received no reply.

In the Fox News clip, the hosts said Zelenskyy went to Pennsylvania with Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat considered a surrogate for then-Democratic presidential nominee Harris, and then-Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa. The hosts nodded to Vance’s Feb. 28 Oval Office remarks to Zelenskyy that the Ukraine president "went to Pennsylvania and campaigned for the opposition in October." 

In September 2024, Zelenskyy visited the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant to thank its workers who were producing munitions for Ukraine. Shapiro attended the event in his official capacity, not as a campaign event.

Shapiro, who Harris passed over to be her running mate, sometimes campaigned on Harris’ behalf. Harris did not attend the Zelenskyy event in Scranton. 

Then-Sen. Bob Casey and then-Rep. Matt Cartwright, Democrats who faced competitive reelection bids, attended. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said the event "failed to include a single Republican."

A nine-minute video of the event showed Zelenskyy touring the site, shaking a worker’s hand, posing with workers for photos and writing messages on ammunition shells. In brief remarks, he said to the workers, "I wanted very much to come here and to thank you, 400 people, saved millions of Ukrainians."

Later the same week, Zelenskyy met separately with Harris and then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. 

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Donald Trump shake hands Sept. 27, 2024, during their meeting at Trump Tower in New York. (AP)

Shapiro is not the only U.S. governor who Zelenskyy met in 2024. In July that year, Utah Gov. Spencer J. Cox, a Republican, hosted Zelenskyy at the National Governors Association. Officials signed a memorandum of understanding between Utah and a Ukrainian province, committing to work together in multiple areas. 

There are straightforward examples of election interference — for example, trying to prevent voters from casting ballots. But some Republicans have used the term "election inference" loosely to attack opponents without proven criminal violations. 

Foreign election interference can include a cyber attack on election systems or misinformation/disinformation campaigns that often mask that foreign actors are involved, said Ari Mittleman, executive director of Keep Our Republic, a nonpartisan civic education organization.

"The goal is the same — having Americans distrust fellow Americans and doubt the backbone of our democracy — safe and secure elections," Mittleman said.

Experts on election interference told us that Zelenskyy’s actions did not amount to foreign election interference. 

Federal law bans foreign nationals from spending money in U.S. elections. Beyond that, foreign election interference gets complicated.

There is no comprehensive definition of foreign election interference, said Asaf Lubin, an Indiana University Maurer School of Law associate professor and expert on cybersecurity.

U.S. Code 2708 says the term "foreign election interference" means conduct by a foreign person including "covert, fraudulent or deceptive acts" with the intent to significantly influence voters or undermine public confidence in the election. 

Trump used similar language in a 2018 executive order.

Zelenskyy’s visit to Scranton was not covert; it was reported by the media in advance and after his visit. 

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Other pieces of legislation "offer relevant additional rules, though none explicitly define ‘foreign election interference’ in a singular or comprehensive manner," Lubin said. 

Michael Morley, a Florida State University election law professor, said the phrase "tends to be used more broadly and nebulously. It isn't a discrete criminal offense for which a person can be prosecuted."

For example, U.S. federal officials in 2024 charged Iranian intelligence agents accused of a "hack-and-leak" operation against the Trump campaign with fraud and identity theft;  prosecutors described the agents’ actions as election interference.

Dov H. Levin, University of Hong Kong associate professor of international politics who specializes in foreign election interference, tracked foreign election interference over 69 years, including by the U.S. and Russia. Levin said that Zelenskyy’s visit to the Pennsylvania factory is not a form of foreign election interference.

None of Zelenskyy’s actions during his Pennsylvania visit "would be plausibly defined as ‘covert, fraudulent, deceptive, or unlawful’ actions," Levin said, citing the words in the federal code. Visits by foreign heads of state to the U.S. are "a dime a dozen and usually provoke no reaction — even during election years," Levin said.

Bret Schafer, a senior fellow at the Alliance for Securing Democracy at the German Marshall Fund, wrote in an Oct. 1, 2024, essay that "(Zelenskyy) may have been unwise or undiplomatic to participate in an event in a swing state without members of both parties present, but it was not, under any definition advanced by the United States or any other democracy, foreign interference." 

Schafer pointed to the Department of Homeland Security definition of foreign interference:  "malign actions taken by foreign governments or foreign actors designed to sow discord, manipulate public discourse, discredit the electoral system, bias the development of policy, or disrupt markets for the purpose of undermining the interests of the United States and its allies."

Schafer wrote, "A visit by a foreign leader to an American factory checks none of those boxes." 

A Facebook post said Zelenskyy "engaged in election interference by campaigning" in Pennsylvania for Harris.

In September 2024, Zelenskyy visited a Scranton ammunition plant to thank its workers who were producing munitions for Ukraine. A video of his visit shows Zelenskyy touring the site and thanking workers.

Although Shapiro served as a Harris campaign surrogate, he attended the Scranton event in his official capacity as governor. Harris did not attend the Scranton event. Zelenskyy met with Harris and Trump separately later the same week.

Zelenskyy’s visit to the Scranton plant was not covert, and experts said it doesn’t meet any definition of foreign election interference.

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