CSPAN - Sen. Graham Reacts to Trump-Zelensky Meeting
Aired: 2025-03-01
Duration: 03:49


=== Talk About Ukraine (03:48) ===

[00:00:00]  Obama and Bush, and he might have broken them with Biden.
[00:00:04]  He did, maybe.
[00:00:04]  Maybe he didn't.
[00:00:05]  I don't know what happened, but he didn't break them with me.
[00:00:08]  He wants to make a deal.
[00:00:09]  I don't know if you can make a deal.
[00:00:11]  The problem is, I've empowered you to be a tough guy.
[00:00:16]  And I don't think you'd be a tough guy without the United States.
[00:00:19]  And your people are very brave.
[00:00:21]  But you're either going to make a deal or we're out.
[00:00:24]  And if we're out, you'll fight it out.
[00:00:26]  I don't think it's going to be pretty.
[00:00:28]  But you'll fight it out.
[00:00:30]  But you don't have the cards.
[00:00:32]  But once we sign that deal, you're in a much better position.
[00:00:36]  But you're not acting at all thankful.
[00:00:38]  And that's not a nice thing.
[00:00:39]  I'll be honest.
[00:00:40]  That's not a nice thing.
[00:00:41]  All right.
[00:00:42]  I think we've seen enough.
[00:00:44]  What do you think?
[00:00:46]  This is going to be great television.
[00:00:48]  I will say that.
[00:00:50]  All right.
[00:00:51]  We'll see what we can do about putting that together.
[00:00:54]  Thank you.
[00:01:01]  We'll see.
[00:01:02]  I don't know.
[00:01:02]  All right, guys.
[00:01:03]  Guys, come on.
[00:01:04]  Please.
[00:01:05]  Guys, come on. Please.
[00:01:07]  Guys, come on.
[00:01:17]  Thank you.
[00:01:31]  Guys, right now, you've got to move.
[00:01:32]  It's all right, it's all right, it's all right.
[00:01:48]  Is this better?
[00:01:49]  Yeah.
[00:01:51]  For you and for us.
[00:01:53]  So, what I think is complete, utter disaster.
[00:01:58]  I've been to Ukraine eight or nine times since the war started.
[00:02:03]  I understand the consequences of Putin's actions against Ukraine.
[00:02:08]  I appreciate what the Ukrainian people have done.
[00:02:10]  They fought like tigers.
[00:02:12]  At the end of the day, I was hoping that this minerals deal, which would be transformative in the relationship, would go over well.
[00:02:21]  I talked to Zelensky this morning.
[00:02:23]  Don't take the bait.
[00:02:25]  President Trump was in a very good mood last night.
[00:02:28]  Somebody asked me, Am I embarrassed about Trump?
[00:02:32]  I have never been more proud of the president.
[00:02:34]  I was very proud of JD Vance standing up for our country.
[00:02:39]  We want to be helpful.
[00:02:40]  What I saw in the Oval Office was disrespectful.
[00:02:44]  And I don't know if we could ever do business with Zelensky again.
[00:02:49]  I think most Americans saw a guy that they would not want to go in business with.
[00:02:54]  The way he handled the meeting, the way he confronted the president was just over the top.
[00:03:01]  So I think the relationship between Ukraine and America is important, vitally important.
[00:03:08]  But can Zelensky do a deal with the United States after what I saw?
[00:03:14]  I don't know.
[00:03:18]  What did he say to you about his interactions and whether he thinks he was shocked.
[00:03:25]  He was very upbeat.
[00:03:27]  I told Zelensky, we'll talk about security guarantees.
[00:03:31]  We'll talk about ceasefires and how the war ends.
[00:03:34]  This is a process.
[00:03:36]  You have a new relationship with America.
[00:03:39]  A $500 billion, half a trillion dollar deal that President Trump is proud of, that gives us an interest worth defending.
[00:03:47]  Let's talk about the positive.