Republican lawmaker (Don Bacon) on Trump-Zelensky meeting: 'A bad day for America's foreign policy' [View all]

Source: The Hill

Republican lawmaker on Trump-Zelensky meeting: ‘A bad day for America’s foreign policy’

by Filip Timotija - 02/28/25 2:44 PM ET

Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) characterized Friday’s contentious meeting between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as a “bad day” for U.S. foreign policy.

“A bad day for America’s foreign policy. Ukraine wants independence, free markets and rule of law. It wants to be part of the West. Russia hates us and our Western values. We should be clear that we stand for freedom,” Bacon said in a Friday text message to The Hill.

During Zelensky’s Friday visit to Washington, Trump and Vice President Vance went off on the Ukrainian leader, saying he was ungrateful for the billions of dollars of aid the U.S. has provided to the war-torn eastern European country and that he has very little leverage in negotiations with Russia.

The meeting was initially warm, with the Trump lauding the bravery of Ukraine’s military, but it went off the rails once Kyiv’s leader pressed Vance for arguing that a diplomatic agreement with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin could be forged to end the three-year conflict.

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Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5169686-republican-lawmaker-on-trump-zelensky-meeting-a-bad-day-for-americas-foreign-policy/