Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) blasted President Trump for his “shameful display” during Friday’s meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House, claiming that Russian President Vladimir Putin “must be overjoyed” with its outcome.
“It would’ve been a show of strength for the President of the United States to bring the elected leader of Ukraine to the Oval Office and engage with him in a dignified way,” Pelosi said in a Friday post on the social platform X. “But you would never know that after President Trump’s shameful display. Putin must be overjoyed with today’s theatrics.
“Following the US vote in alignment with Russia at the United Nations this week, a disturbing pattern has emerged that is contrary to America’s longstanding support of democracy around the world,” said Pelosi, a vocal Trump critic, referencing the US vote against a UN resolution to condemn Russia as the aggressor in the conflict with Ukraine.
The meeting between Trump and Zelensky was initially cordial, but it derailed quickly. The president and Vice President Vance accused the wartime leader of being ungrateful for the assistance the US has provided to Ukraine and said he lacked substantial leverage in negotiations for a peace agreement.
Zelensky questioned Vance’s claim that an agreement could be struck with Putin to end the three-year war in Eastern Europe.
Ukraine’s president then pointed to Putin’s refusal to exchange prisoners, continuous attack on Ukrainian territories and going back on previous ceasefires.
“I think it’s disrespectful for you to come to the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media,” Vance told Zelensky. “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 his conflict.”
Kyiv’s leader then warned that the US did not feel the devastation of the conflict in Eastern Europe because of the distance but said that might change in the future, a response that ignited a strong rebuttal from the US president.
“Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel because you’re in no position … to dictate what we’re going to feel,” Trump said. “We’re going to feel very good and very strong. You’re right now, not in a very good position.”
Trump then stated that Ukraine does not have “the cards right now. With us, you start having cards,” adding that Zelensky is “gambling with the lives of millions of people, 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.”
MNA/
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