Secretary of State Marco Rubio praised President Trump after he and Vice President Vance got into a public spat with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office on Friday
“Thank you @POTUS for standing up for America in a way that no President has ever had the courage to do before. Thank you for putting America First. America is with you!” Rubio posted on X. Rubio notably did not include a mention of Ukraine or Zelensky.
Earlier on Friday, Zelensky met with Trump, Vance and other officials in the Oval Office amid preparations around a potential minerals deal between the two countries.
But the meeting soon took a sharp turn when Vance criticized Zelensky, who appeared skeptical about the idea of diplomacy with Russia and insinuated that Russia could not be a trusted partner given its past track record.
“I’m talking about the kind of diplomacy that’s going to end the destruction of your country,” Vance said. “I think it’s disrespectful for you to come to 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 his conflict.”
The vice president also pressed Zelensky on whether he had ever thanked the U.S. during the Oval Office meeting.
“You went to Pennsylvania and campaigned for the opposition in October. Offer some words of appreciation for the United States of America and the president who’s trying to save your country,” Vance noted at one point.
Trump, too, slammed Zelensky after the Ukrainian leader suggested the U.S. didn’t “feel” the effects of Russia’s invasion into Ukraine.
“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.
“If you didn’t have our military equipment, this war would have been over in two weeks,” the president said at another point in the meeting. “It’s going to be a very hard thing to do business like this.”
The remarkable and heated exchange underscores simmering tensions between the Trump administration and Ukraine’s leadership, with Trump’s faction of the GOP less inclined to continue offering aid to Ukraine.
European leaders immediately came out on social media to express their support for Zelensky after the exchange. Zelensky, himself, thanked the U.S. for its support despite the tense meeting.
