Democratic lawmakers rushed to defend Volodymyr Zelenskyy after the Ukrainian chief was publicly berated by Donald Trump in a disastrous Oval Workplace assembly.
The US president accused Zelenskyy of “gambling with world war three” whereas his vice-president, JD Vance, referred to as the Ukrainian chief “disrespectful”, earlier than reducing brief talks geared toward kicking off the method of ending Kyiv’s three-year conflict with Russia.
Zelenskyy abruptly left the White Home quickly after with out signing a uncommon important minerals cope with the US that Trump has mentioned is step one towards a ceasefire settlement that he’s searching for to dealer between Russia and Ukraine.
Democratic senators got here to Zelenskyy’s protection in statements condemning Trump and Vance’s “shameful” and “disgraceful” therapy of the Ukrainian chief.
“Every time I’ve met with President Zelenskyy, he’s thanked the American people for our strong support,” Chris Coons, a Democratic senator from Delaware, wrote on X. “We owe him our thanks for leading a nation fighting on the front lines of democracy – not the public berating he received at the White House.”
Adam Schiff, the California senator, mentioned: ““A hero and a coward are meeting in the Oval Office today. And when the meeting is over, the hero will return home to Ukraine.”
Chris Murphy, a Democratic senator from Connecticut, mentioned: “What an utter embarrassment for America. This whole sad scene.” The Arizona senator Ruben Gallego added: “This is a disgrace.”
Senator Chris Van Hollen from Maryland additionally described the scenes within the Oval Workplace as “beyond disgraceful”. The Illinois senator Dick Durbin added: “The people of Ukraine and President Zelenskyy deserve an apology.”
“Trump and Vance berating Zelenskyy – putting on a show of lies and misinformation that would make Putin blush – is an embarrassment for America and a betrayal of our allies,” Durbin mentioned. “They’re popping champagne in the Kremlin.”
Trump and Vance “are doing Putin’s dirty work”, the Senate Democratic chief, Chuck Schumer, mentioned after the calamitous assembly, including that his social gathering will “never stop fighting for freedom and democracy”.
Sheldon Whitehouse, the Democratic senator from Rhode Island, additionally accused Trump and Vance of “acting like ventriloquist dummies for Putin”.
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Whitehouse was a part of a bipartisan group of senators who met with Zelenskyy earlier within the morning earlier than his assembly with the president. The Minnesota Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar mentioned the hour-long dialogue confirmed “strong bipartisan support in the Senate for Ukraine’s freedom and democracy”.
Klobuchar later addressed Vance straight in a social media submit saying that Zelenskyy had thanked the US “over and over again” each privately and publicly.
“Our country thanks HIM and the Ukrainian patriots who have stood up to a dictator, buried their own & stopped Putin from marching right into the rest of Europe,” she wrote. “Shame on you,” she mentioned, referring to Vance.
Tina Smith, one other Democratic senator from Minnesota, referred to as on her Republican colleagues to “speak out” within the title of “patriotism”. “Once, we fought tyrants. Today Trump and Vance are bending America’s knee,” she mentioned.
However Republican senators rushed to defend Trump, describing the president’s trade with Zelenskyy as proof that he was “putting America first”.
Mike Lee, a Utah Republican senator, thanked Trump and Vance “for standing up to our country and putting America first”. The Indiana Republican senator Jim Banks additionally thanked Trump for “standing up for America”.
“[Zelenskyy] ungratefully expects us to bankroll and escalate another forever war–all while disrespecting the President,” Banks wrote on X. “The entitlement is insulting to working Americans.”
