Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) slammed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for arguing with President Trump and Vice President JD Vance during an explosive Oval Office meeting Friday, telling reporters Kyiv’s leader should consider his political future.
“What I saw in the Oval Office was disrespectful, and I don’t know if we could ever do business with Zelensky again,” Graham said outside the White House after Trump canceled a scheduled joint press conference with Zelensky and ordered him out of the executive mansion.
“I think most Americans saw a guy that they would not want to go in business with, the way he handled the meeting,” the South Carolina Republican added, describing the Ukrainian’s approach as “just over the top.”
“I have never been more proud of the president. I was very proud of JD Vance standing up for our country,” Graham also said. “We want to be helpful.”
When asked if Zelensky should resign, Graham answered: “He either needs to resign and send somebody over that we can do business with, or he needs to change.”
Trump, 78, had told reporters on Thursday after a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer that he anticipated “a very good meeting” with Zelensky.
“We’re going to get along really well, OK? We have a lot of respect. I have a lot of respect for him,” the president said.
Graham said Friday that he had spoken with Zelensky that morning and told him “don’t take the bait. President Trump was in a very good mood last night.”
“He was terrible at Munich, Zelensky, and I think he has made it almost impossible to sell to the American people that he’s a good investment,” he went on.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent revealed in an interview with Bloomberg Friday afternoon that the meeting was scheduled expressly to show “there was no daylight between the Americans and the Ukrainians.”
“To show that we’re more intertwined,” Bessent explained, “that would be a symbol to the Ukrainian people, to Russian leadership and to the American people — and President Zelensky blew that up today.”
Zelensky put out a conciliatory statement on X immediately after being asked to leave the White House — without having even signed the joint investment deal with the US to mine rare-earth minerals in Ukraine.
“Thank you America, thank you for your support, thank you for this visit. Thank you @POTUS, Congress, and the American people,” he said. “Ukraine needs just and lasting peace, and we are working exactly for that.”
Bessent added in his Bloomberg interview that it was going to be “very difficult to do an economic deal with a leader who doesn’t want to do a peace deal.”
“It’s going to take a lot of repair,” the cabinet official said of the joint economic investment.
Graham has been one of the staunchest defenders of US support for Ukraine in Congress, voting for tens billions of dollars in economic and military aid for Kyiv amid its three-year war with Russia.
The Republican senator also went further than other Kremlin hawks by pushing early in the conflict for the assassination of Russian President Vladimir Putin — a stance that cooler-headed colleagues like Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) had denounced.
Other congressional Republicans opposed to Ukraine assistance were quick to come to Trump’s defense after the war of words in the West Wing, which was broadcast in its entirety by cable news networks.
“America won’t be taken advantage of and America won’t be taken for granted. Thank you, President Trump and Vice President Vance for standing up for America,” said Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.), who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
“Today was a powerful moment that reminds us what a strong American President looks like,” added Sen. Jim Banks (R-Ind.). “His offer stands to Zelensky to come back when he’s serious about peace. In the meantime, don’t disrespect America.”
Democrats fired back that Trump and Vance’s intemperate response to Ukraine’s leader would only “further embolden Vladimir Putin.”
“Today’s White House meeting with the President of Ukraine was appalling and will only serve to further embolden Vladimir Putin, a brutal dictator,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY).
“Trump and Vance are doing Putin’s dirty work. Senate Democrats will never stop fighting for freedom and democracy,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the Democrat attacks were a “lazy, cheap, and ultimately dishonest argument” against the Trump admin’s posture.
“One can reject Zelenskyy’s [sic] impertinence—and especially his unrealistic demands for us to keep funding his war with no plan for peace—without being with Putin,” Lee said on X. “Trump and Vance are siding with Americans—not with anyone in Russia.”
