House Speaker: Zelenskyy May Have to Step Down Over White House Spat 👉 Updatem News

The Ukrainian president ‘needs to come to his senses and come back to the table in gratitude or someone else needs to lead the country,’ the speaker said.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Sunday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy may have to resign in the wake of a high-profile public spat between himself, President Donald Trump, and Vice President JD Vance in the Oval Office last week.

On Feb. 28, Zelenskyy met with Trump, Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and others in the Oval Office and sparred publicly with them in front of reporters amid negotiations over a mineral rights deal and ending the Russia–Ukraine war.

“President Trump is trying to get these two parties to a point of peace,” Johnson told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday morning. “What President Zelenskyy did in the White House was effectively signal to us that he’s not ready for that yet, and I think that’s a great disappointment.”

He also said that Zelenskyy “needs to come to his senses and come back to the table in gratitude or someone else needs to lead the country” in order for the United States to continue working with Kyiv on a peace deal, adding that the Trump administration “has been very clear” that if Ukraine and Zelenskyy are ready for a deal, then “we can negotiate a deal.”

The meeting between Zelenskyy, Trump, and Vance was supposed to be followed up by a minerals deal benefiting the United States in order to continue to provide security guarantees for Ukraine. But Zelenskyy’s trip was cut short and Trump later wrote on social media that the Ukrainian leader “disrespected the United States in its cherished Oval Office” and that he can “come back when he is ready for Peace.”

During an interview with CNN’s “State of the Union,” Johnson disagreed with Saturday comments made by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), a longtime critic of Trump from the GOP side, that Trump is “walking away from our allies and embracing [Russian President Vladimir] Putin.”

Johnson said that Murkowski is “plainly wrong” and that “the person who walked away from the table yesterday was President Zelenskyy.”

Johnson’s remarks to NBC about Zelenskyy stepping down echoed remarks made by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a prominent Republican backer of Ukraine during the three-year conflict, who said on Feb. 28 that Zelenskyy may have to go.

“The question for me is, ‘Is he redeemable in the eyes of Americans?’ Most Americans witnessing what they saw today would not want Zelenskyy to be their business partner, including me, and I’ve been to Ukraine nine times since the war started,” Graham told Fox News last week.

Zelenskyy, the senator added, should apologize to Trump. “If he can’t say that, then Ukraine—you need to either send us somebody new we can deal with or just accept the consequences.”

The Meeting

The Feb. 28 White House meeting started to go awry when things got heated between Zelenskyy and Vance after it had become apparent that Zelenskyy was unwilling to compromise with Russia to come to a peace deal. Vance had also apparently taken issue with what he saw as a lack of humility in the Ukrainian president, who was there to ask the United States for help. When Vance pointed out that Ukraine, lacking leverage in the situation, needed to take a more diplomatic approach, Zelenskyy asked him, in part: “What kind of diplomacy, JD, you are speaking about? What do you mean?”

“I’m talking about the kind of diplomacy that’s going to end the destruction of your country,“ Vance responded. ”Mr. President, with respect, I think it’s disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media. Right now, you guys are going around and forcing conscripts to the front lines because you have manpower problems. You should be thanking the president for trying to bring an end to this conflict.”

Later in the exchange, Zelenskyy warned, “During the war, everybody has problems, even you. But you have nice ocean and don’t feel now. But you will feel it in the future,” he said.

That word choice prompted a swift response from Trump: “You don’t know that. You don’t know that. Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel. We’re trying to solve a problem. Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel.”

Trump then said that Zelenskyy was “in no position to dictate that,” later adding, “You’re not in a good position. You don’t have the cards right now. With us, you start having cards.”

“You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people. You’re gambling with World War III,” Trump added.

Zelenskyy then replied, “What are you speaking about?”

Trump then said, “You’re gambling with World War III. And what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country that’s backed you far more than a lot of people said they should have.”

Later in the exchange, Vance made note of Zelenskyy’s visit to Pennsylvania last October with Gov. Josh Shapiro and other Democrats, accusing him of having “campaigned for the opposition” during the 2024 presidential election.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Original News Source Link – Epoch Times

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