Speaker Mike Johnson calls out Zelenskyy over behavior during Trump meeting

House Speaker Mike Johnson called out Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday for interrupting and berating President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance during their meeting at the White House, and said he was surprised by his behavior. 

“The person who walked away from the table yesterday was President Zelenskyy. I mean, look, I’ve been involved in a lot of bilateral meetings like this with heads of state and dignitaries. There’s a certain protocol to these events. But for him to act as he did was rather shocking to everyone. I mean, President Zelenskyy, instead of showing gratitude, he interrupted and berated his hosts at a very perilous time for his country. He should have been anxious, I think, to enter into this agreement,” Johnson said. 

CNN’s Dana Bash asked Johnson to respond to Republican Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s reaction to the Trump-Zelenskyy clash. Murkowski accused Trump of “walking away from our allies and embracing Putin,” in a post on X.

“The mineral rights agreement would be a win-win for both countries. It would give us an economic interest there, and everyone around the world knows that America will always defend our interests and our people. We would have created an economic partnership with Ukraine at a time when it needs to be reemerging. And that would have been a great thing,” Johnson continued.

TRUMP SAYS UKRAINE RARE EARTH MINERALS DEAL WILL LEAD TO ‘SUSTAINABLE’ FUTURE BETWEEN US, UKRAINE

“And I don‘t understand why President Zelenskyy would not accept that gratefully. And I think it’s a big mistake. And I hope he changes his mind because we’ve got to bring an end to this conflict,” the speaker continued. 

Johnson also spoke to NBC News’ Kristen Welker on Sunday during “Meet the Press,” during which Johnson was pressed on whether the U.S. was abandoning Ukraine. 

“I was with the president a day before that meeting, and he was excited about this mineral rights deal. He believed it, and we all believed it to be in the best interest of both countries. It is not the President and the Vice President that berated Zelenskyy. I saw it the other way around. I saw Zelenskyy rather stiff-necked in the Oval Office instead of being gracious and saying, ‘Thank you,’ and looking for a way out of this mess. He did quite the opposite,” Johnson said.

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“It’s pretty absurd for anyone in the media or Democrats to somehow proclaim that President Trump, the White House or Republicans in Congress are on Putin’s side,” Johnson told Welker. 

Johnson was pressed on what he thought of Russia’s Vladimir Putin during his CNN interview as well. 

“I think Vladimir Putin is an old-school communist, a former KGB agent. And he’s not to be trusted, and he is dangerous. The way I view this is that China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are engaged in a new axis powers, and they are not on America’s side,” he responded.

Trump accused Zelenskyy of “disrespecting” the U.S. during their meeting Friday and said the Ukrainian leader was not ready to secure peace for his country. 

“I have determined that President Zelenskyy is not ready for peace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations,” Trump said in a Truth Social post Friday. “I don’t want advantage, I want PEACE. He disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for Peace.”