Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) attempted to dismiss concerns after President Trump’s fiery meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, noting it would be “absurd” for Republicans to stand behind Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Johnson joined CBS News’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, where he discussed the failed deal and the meeting between Trump and Zelensky.
“They’re not abandoning Ukraine,” Johnson said of the meeting. “I was with the president a day before that meeting, and he was excited about this mineral deal. He believed it, and we all believed it to be in the best interest of both countries.”
The speaker defended Trump and Vice President Vance, who laid into Zelensky about the deal and the three-year-long war.
“I saw it the other way around. I saw Zelensky rather stiff-necked in the Oval Office instead of being gracious and saying thank you, and looking for a way out of this mess,” Johnson said.
Johnson said he believes the deal would have gone through and would have accomplished progress. He said it was “unfortunate” the way the meeting ended.
As Trump signals his closeness to Putin, Johnson attempted to distance the U.S. from the Kremlin.
“I’d like to see Putin defeated, frankly. He is an adversary of the United States. But in this conflict, we’ve got to bring it into this war. It’s in everybody’s interest.”
