Amy Klobuchar Hopes Marco Rubio Can be a ‘Cooler Head’ on Trump Team, Fix U.S.-Ukraine Split
Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) expressed her hope on Monday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio can be the “cooler head” on President Donald Trump’s team and repair the U.S.-Ukrainian relationship.
During an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, Klobuchar noted that prior to Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s explosive fight in the Oval Office Friday, Zelensky had a meeting with a bipartisan group of congressional leaders that “couldn’t have gone better.”
She also blamed Vice President JD Vance for the incident.
“I watched that tape over and over again — even the body language,” said Klobuchar. “President Zelensky is just simply explaining that [Vladimir] Putin can’t be trusted in a deal, something Republicans have acknowledged day in and day out, and that we have to make it as airtight as possible, and have troops besides Ukrainian troops enforcing it. JD Vance, I was appalled by what he did because he berated Zelensky, a man who has put himself out there, went down to a street corner the day of the invasion and said, ‘We are here,’ and has never wavered, not with the Ukrainian people, not with the world. And for him to act like Zelensky has never said thank you, I have been in his presence — public meetings, private meetings — he says thank you all the time. And this is someone who has stood up for his country. His Ukrainian patriots have held the line. They have shed their own blood, they have buried their own, and they have stopped Vladimir Putin from marching right through Ukraine into the rest of Europe.”
Here’s how the interview unfolded from there:
BLITZER: You think, as some have suggested, that Vice President Vance and the president deliberately wanted this to explode the way it did?
KLOBUCHAR: I don’t know, it seemed that they were excited and this deal is something that President Trump wants. So I think they did plan to berate him for grandstanding on TV, I don’t know if they knew it would get this out of hand. But we are where we are, and I have appreciated Secretary Rubio has actually said that there may be an opening for a reset. That is — my focus is, how can we reset? And with what happened in Europe this weekend, I think that’s positive. They’re going to Brussels, they come to a deal, and maybe we can still sign the minerals agreement and go from there.
BLITZER: You have confidence in the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, your former colleague?
KLOBUCHAR: I have confidence that cooler heads have to prevail here. He could be one of them to say, “We need to get this on track.” I don’t care if you’re Democrat, Republican, Trump supporter, not Trump supporter; it is in America’s best interest to come from strength, and not surrender.
Watch above via CNN.
