The Republicans of Congress on Friday were almost unanimous in their praise to President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance after they and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had a burning exchange before the cameras live in the Oval office.
In statements to journalists at the entrance of the White House, just after, the republican senator of South Carolina, Lindsey Graham, predicted that the shouting party could end the US support to Zelenskyy, calling the meeting a “complete and complete disaster.”
“Someone asked me, am I ashamed of Trump? I have never been more proud of the president. I was very proud that JD Vance defended our country. We want to be useful. What I saw in the Oval office was disrespectful, and I don’t know if we can ever do business with Zelenskyy again: “Graham, the president of the Senate Budget Committee, said:” The way he handled the meeting, the way he faced the president, was exaggerated. “
President Donald Trump meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the White House in Washington, DC, on February 28, 2025.
Brian Snyder/Reuters
He suggested that Zelenskyy could have to consider.
“Or need to give up and send someone with whom we can do business, or he needs to change,” Graham said.
Senator Lindsey Graham talks to journalists outside the west wing of the White House, on February 28, 2025, in Washington.
EVAN VUCCI/AP
“Thanks to President Trump, the days of the United States who take advantage and not respected,” President Mike Johnson published in X.
“Zelenskyy could have left the White House today with a peace agreement for his country, ending this conflict. Instead, he chose to disrespect our president and the nation,” Representative Diane Harshbarger, Republican of Tenn., Published in X. “Thank you, President Trump and Vice President Vance, for defending our country!”
Representative Victoria Spartz, a Republican from Indiana, born in Ukraine, said that Zelenskyy is making the Ukrainian people a “bad service” by insulting the US president.
“This is not an act of theater but a true war!” He published in X. “Zelensky is doing a bad service to the Ukrainian people who insulted the US president and the US people, only to appease Europeans and increase their low survey in Ukraine after he failed miserably to defend his country.”
“There are no funds for Ukraine. This serious lack of respect will not be maintained,” the representative of the Republican Party Anna Paulina Luna de Florida published in X. “Time for everyone in Congress to drop their Ukraine pins.”
“America First in Action”, the first -year Republican, Republican Brandon Gill, published in X. “Thank you, @realdonaldtrump and @jdvance for prioritizing our people first and for promoting peace!”
President Donald Trump meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, when US vice president JD Vance reacts at the White House in Washington, on February 28, 2025.
Brian Snyder/Reuters
The Democrats, on the other hand, were dismayed by the discordant diplomatic action, if not without precedents.
“Trump and Vance are doing Putin’s dirty work,” said Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer. “Senate Democrats will never stop fighting for freedom and democracy.”
“A hero and a coward will meet today at the Oval office. And when the meeting ends, the hero will return home in Ukraine,” Senator Adam Schiff published, D-Calif., Published in X.
“What we saw in the Oval office today was beyond the shameful,” the representative Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., Published in X. “Trump and Vance that rebukes Zelenskyy, presenting a show of lies and wrong information that would make Putin blush a shame for the United States and a betrayal of our Allies.
Senator Chris Coans, a Democrat of Delaware, said: “Every time I met with President Zelenskyy, he thanked the US people for our strong support. We owe our thanks for leading a nation in the first line of democracy, not the public region he received in the White House.”
Senator Tina Smith of Minnesota said: “That press conference was choreographed for a audience of one and sits in Moscow. Once, we fight against the tyrants. Today Trump and Vance are bending the knee of the United States. And that weakens us.”
“President Trump and his administration continue to embarrass the United States on the world stage,” said the Democratic leader of the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, in a statement. “Today’s White House meeting with the president of Ukraine was terrible and will only serve to further embarmed to Vladimir Putin, a brutal dictator.”
Vice President JD Vance speaks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy while President Donald Trump listens to the Oval Office of the White House, on February 28, 2025, in Washington.
Mystyslav Chernov/AP
A moderate Republican of the Chamber, the representative Don Bacon de Nebraska, an important ally of Ukraine in Capitol Hill, joined the Democrats to defend Ukraine, although it was not to criticize the president or vice president.
“Some want to bleach the truth, but we cannot ignore the truth. Russia is to blame for this war,” Bacon published in X.
Later, in an updated statement, he said, “a bad day for the foreign policy of the United States. Ukraine wants independence, free markets and rule of law. He wants to be part of the West. Russia hates us and our western values. We should be clear that we defend freedom.”
Democratic representative Mike Quigley, co -president of the Caucus of Ukraine of Congress and member of the Select Intelligence Committee of the House of Representatives, said Trump “chose the side of the dictators.”
“What just happened in the Oval office was one of the most shameful moments in American history,” said Quigley, from Illinois. “The world order that was established after World War II is dead.”
The Republican representative of Pennsylvania, Brian Fitzpatrick, said: “He was heartbreaking to witness the turn of the events that occurred at today’s meeting on the future of Ukraine. It is time to leave aside the understandable emotions and return to the negotiation table.
Oren Oppenheim from ABC News contributed to this report.
