‘I Don’t Agree!’ GOP Senator Follows Mike Johnson On ‘Meet the Press’ and Promptly Rejects Speaker’s Suggestion That Zelensky Should Quit
A Republican Senator appearing on Meet the Press right after House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) rejected the Speaker’s suggestion that Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky should step down.
In the segment immediately following Johnson’s on Sunday’s edition of the NBC political talk show, Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) disagreed with the Speaker — who said “either [Zelensky[ needs to come to his senses and come back to the table in gratitude, or someone else needs to lead the country to do that.”
“Let me ask you about something I just discussed with Speaker Johnson, which is that Senator Lindsey Graham has said that President Zelensky may need to resign in order for this peace process to move forward,” NBC’s Kristen Welker told Lankford. “What say you, senator, do you think President Zelensky might need to resign?”
“I don’t agree!” Lankford said. “I’m not interested in calling on the resignation of other world leaders. I didn’t like it when Chuck Schumer asked for [Benjamin] Netanyahu to be removed. I don’t like it when other members of the Senate ask for Zelensky to be removed either. Quite frankly, I think that would spiral Ukraine into chaos right now, trying to find who is the negotiator to bring an issue to peace.”
Welker pressed Lankford about the U.S. stance on Ukraine — and whether the U.S. is abandoning an ally — in the wake of Friday’s chaotic Oval Office meeting between Zelensky and President Donald Trump.
“Based on what you witnessed in the Oval Office, Senator, are you concerned that the United States is turning its back on Ukraine?” Welker asked.
Lankford replied with a position that is fast becoming an outlier on the Right — an unequivocal condemnation of Russia and Vladimir Putin, along with a strong defense of Ukraine.
“No, we’re not turning our back on Ukraine, nor should we,” Lankford said. “Putin is a murderous KGB thug that murders his political enemies and is a dictator there. And so we’ve seen that. We’ve seen his aggression.”
Watch above, via NBC.
