House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Sunday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “needs to come to his senses and come back to the table in gratitude or someone else needs to lead the country” in order for Ukraine to continue pursuing a peace deal negotiated by the U.S.
His comments come just two days after President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Zelenskyy publicly sparred in the Oval Office while the Ukrainian president visited Washington to finish negotiations on a deal over Ukraine’s mineral wealth.
“President Trump is trying to get these two parties to a point of peace,” Johnson said during an interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” adding: “What President Zelenskyy did in the White House was effectively signal to us that he’s not ready for that yet, and I think that’s a great disappointment.”
Johnson emphasized that Trump “has been very clear about this — that if [Zelenskyy] is ready for peace, then we can negotiate a deal.”
Zelenskyy has repeatedly said he was seeking to include security guarantees — or assurances that the U.S. would come to Ukraine’s aid if Russia violates a ceasefire deal — in the mineral rights agreement.
In the Oval Office spat, Trump told Zelenskyy that he “doesn’t have the cards” to negotiate and joined Vance in asking the Ukrainian president to be more grateful for U.S. support for Ukraine.
Following the contentious meeting, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., called on Zelenskyy to resign, telling reporters at the White House that the meeting was a “complete, utter disaster.”
“I don’t know if we can ever do business with Zelenskyy again,” Graham said, adding that the Ukrainian president, “either needs to resign and send somebody over that we can do business with, or he needs to change.”
Johnson on Sunday echoed the president and vice president, telling “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker that Zelenskyy “berated and interrupted his host, instead of expressing gratitude for the extraordinary help that the U.S. has provided his country.”
Johnson also argued that security guarantees were inherent in the mineral rights deal, telling Welker, “This mineral rights deal is a win, a win for everyone. It will give us access to rare earth minerals that we need, and it will provide a level of security for Ukraine.”
“They will effectively be in an economic partnership with us after that point, and we will definitely always defend our interests and our investments,” Johnson added. “Russia knows that. China knows that. Iran, North Korea know that, and that’s a very important message for us.”
Asked if Putin was the “winner” in the fallout from the tense Oval Office exchange, Johnson said “No, he wasn’t.”
In an interview later on “Meet the Press,” Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., pushed back on GOP officials’ calls for Zelenskyy to resign, telling Welker, “I’m not interested in calling on the resignation of other world leaders.”
“Frankly, I think that would spiral Ukraine into chaos right now, trying to find who is the negotiator” for a peace deal, Lankford added.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., also pushed back on calls for Zelenskyy to resign, calling it a “horrific suggestion” on “Meet the Press” later Sunday.
“Zelenskyy is leading a country, trying to defend democracy against an authoritarian dictator — Putin — who invaded his country,” Sanders added.
Johnson also spoke about the massive budget reconciliation bill that House Republicans passed last week, which now heads to a group of House and Senate GOP leaders as they seek to reconcile the differences between the House and Senate versions on the bill.
House Republicans’ bill includes $2 trillion in spending cuts, which some opponents of the measure say could impact Medicaid funding, affecting health care and insurance for millions of low-income and disabled people.
Johnson on Sunday said that House Republicans did not intend to touch Medicaid funding in the budget bill, telling Welker, “Don’t take my word for it, Kristen, go do a word search of the budget resolution that we passed on Tuesday. There is not one mention of Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security.”
“The American people want us to review the expenditures of the country and get our fiscal house in order, and that’s what we must do,” Johnson said, adding that House Republicans also want to extend Trump’s 2017 tax cuts measure, which expires this year.
“We can do both of those things simultaneously and not affect benefits for anyone who relies upon those and is eligible to receive them,” Johnson said.
But on Friday, Trump adviser and tech mogul Elon Musk made several false claims about Social Security, signaling that he would seek to evaluate that agency for cuts in the future.
Asked whether Social Security is Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency’s next target, Johnson told Welker, “I’ve met with Elon about this multiple times. We meet late into the night in his office, and we’ve looked at that. What he’s finding with his algorithms crawling through the data of Social Security system is enormous amounts of fraud, waste and abuse.”
“We have a moral responsibility to ensure that those programs are conducted in a way that does not allow for this, this massive fraud and abuse, and that’s what he is finding,” Johnson added.
Sanders on Sunday called Musk’s comments “totally outrageous,” during an interview on “Meet the Press.”
“I think what Musk, the wealthiest guy in the world, just said is totally outrageous,” he said.
“That’s a hell of a ‘Ponzi scheme,'” Sanders said, referring to what Musk called Social Security on Friday, “When for the last 80 years, Social Security has paid out every nickel owed to every eligible American.”
