Adam Schiff Defends Zelensky After Oval Office Outburst: ‘He Stood Up to Bullies’

Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) joined the crowd of Democrats who defended Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after he was kicked out of the White House after making disrespectful comments during a meeting with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office.

In a post on X, Schiff wrote that Zelensky had been the only “person acting presidential in the Oval Office” during the meeting in which Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were present.

“There was only one person acting presidential in the Oval Office today: Volodymyr Zelenskyy,” Schiff wrote. “He stood up to bullies in a Kremlin-style shakedown.”

Schiff continued to question what it would “take to awaken the conscience of the country after such a shameful display?”

Schiff defending Zelensky comes as Democrat governors such as Govs. Kathy Hochul (D-NY), Josh Shapiro (D-PA), and Tim Walz (D-MN) also sided with him in the aftermath of the meeting in the Oval Office.

During the meeting, Trump informed Zelensky that Ukraine was “in big trouble,” adding that they were “not winning.”

“Your country is in big trouble,” Trump said. “You’re not winning. You’re not winning this. You have a damn good chance of coming out okay because of us.”

When Zelensky interjected to say that Ukrainians were “staying strong,” and added that Ukraine has “been alone,” Trump pointed out that the United States has helped Ukraine with monetary and military aid.

“You haven’t been alone. We gave you, through [our] stupid president, $350 billion. We gave you military equipment,” Trump said. “If you didn’t have our military equipment, this war would’ve been over in two weeks.”

Breitbart News’s Bradley Jaye reported that during the meeting, Trump and Vance criticized Zelensky for “not acting at all thankful,” and for coming to “the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media.”

“With respect, I think it’s disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media,” Vance said. “Right now you guys are going around and forcing conscripts to the front lines because you have manpower problems. You should be thanking the president for trying to bring an end to this conflict.”

The White House later confirmed that Zelensky had left the White House and had not signed the minerals deal. Trump later posted a statement to Truth Social that “Zelenskyy is not ready for Peace if America is involved,” adding that Zelensky “disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office.”

In the aftermath of the meeting, during an interview with Fox News’s Bret Baier, Zelensky refused to apologize, stating that he was “not sure” that he had done “something bad.”