Top Illinois Democrats on Friday lambasted President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance for their Oval Office ambush of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, calling the president a “national disgrace” and “an embarrassment.”
Gov. JB Pritzker also joined 13 other Democratic governors in pledging support for Ukraine after the televised meeting ended with Trump abruptly calling off a minerals deal with Ukraine that Trump claimed would have moved Ukraine closer to ending the war with Russia.
“You’re gambling with World War III, and what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country that’s backed you far more than a lot of people say they should have,” Trump told Zelenskyy at the end of a 45-minute meeting that prompted Zelenskyy to leave the White House early.
The Ukrainian leader came to the meeting to press Trump for continued support to Ukraine — and to remind him Russian President Vladimir Putin cannot be trusted.
Shortly before the meeting ended, Trump said, “This is going to be great television.”
U.S. Sen Dick Durbin, D-Ill, wrote on X that Trump should have chosen his time with Zelenskyy to thank him for his heroism in fighting off Russia.
“Instead of berating and blaming Pres. Zelenskyy, Pres. Trump and VP Vance should be showing him gratitude for defending against Russian tyranny,” Durbin said. “With 46,000 Ukrainians fallen in battle against Putin, the real invader, the U.S. should be thanking Pres. Zelenskyy for Ukraine’s heroic stand defending transatlantic security.”
U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill, had more blunt words for Trump, calling him a “national disgrace.”
“Attacking our democratic partner in service of an autocratic dictator,” Duckworth said on X. “Trump is a national disgrace.”
Other Illinois Democrats also condemned the meeting.
“President Trump has long been Vladimir Putin’s puppet — and he just showed the world how he’d dance on Putin’s strings in the Oval Office. His baseless accusations against a war-time leader were disgraceful, outrageous and unbecoming of a U.S. President,” U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Ill, said in a statement. “President Zelensky[y] is a hero to his country and democracy worldwide, and I know my Ukrainian grandmother and ancestors are rolling in their graves after how he was treated.”
U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill, a staunch supporter for Ukraine aid, called the meeting “an embarrassment.”
“What just happened in the Oval Office was an embarrassment. We’re a fundamentally different country than a few weeks ago and unrecognizable to our allies,” Quigley said on X. “For over a century, the United States has stood for Democracy. Today, Donald Trump chose the side of dictators. The world order that was established after the Second World War is dead.”
Pritzker joined Democratic governors in pledging their support for Ukraine after the fiery White House exchange. The governors, through the Democratic Governors Association, wrote that Trump and Vance “used the sacred Oval Office to berate President Zelensky[y] for not trusting Vladimir Putin’s word.”
“Americans must protect our strong democratic values on the world stage instead of undermining President Zelensky[y]’s work to fight for his nation and the freedom of his people after being invaded by Russia,” the statement read. “We along with millions of Americans, stand united with the Ukrainian people.”
The Democratic governor is Jewish and of Ukrainian descent. His sister, former Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, served as former President Joe Biden’s U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine’s Economic Recovery.