During an interview on Breitbart News Saturday, Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN) commented on the events that unfolded in the Oval Office on Friday during a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and President Donald Trump, noting that Trump sent a message to the world that the United States would not “be taken advantage” of.
Banks described the meeting, which ended with Zelensky being kicked out of the White House after making several disrespectful comments and not signing a minerals deal, as being “one of the most powerful moments” of his lifetime in American politics. During the interview, Banks went on to praise Trump for being “the people’s president” and having spoken “for America” and “Americans who are tired of being taken advantage of by the rest of the world.”
“I thought it was one of the most powerful moments of my lifetime in American politics, and it just goes to show what a strong, American president looks like in the White House. This conversation — what happened in the Oval Office yesterday was a long time coming. Zelensky was used to — over the last four years coming to Washington and meeting with a very weak president. The excessive hero worship of Zelensky by the establishment in Washington, it was time to put that in its place, and that’s what Donald Trump did yesterday,” Banks said.
“Zelensky disrespected America — not just in, to me its symbolic that he disrespects America in his attire. Not showing the respect of wearing a tie whether on the floor of the House when he spoke before a joint session of Congress that I refused to go to, but then to come into the Oval Office,” Banks added.
“Donald Trump is the people’s president, and yesterday was a powerful moment where he spoke for America, for Americans who are tired of being taken advantage of by the rest of the world. Almost $200 billion since the beginning of the war that American taxpayers have invested in Ukraine, and a lot more money that went before that, as President Trump has pointed out. And, for Zelensky not to come in humbly to thank America, to thank our true American president and Donald Trump, I just thought it was one of the most powerful moments of my lifetime.”
After host Matthew Boyle pointed out that the Trump administration had given the Ukrainians “multiple opportunities” to sign the minerals deal before the “Oval Office appearance” with Trump, Banks noted that it was powerful of Trump to tell Zelensky to leave and not to come back until he was serious about peace.
“For Zelensky in the Oval Office before the cameras to say that Ukraine has been alone, when America has done more than its part to help Ukraine, to me that was the moment. Zelensky, he’s not serious about peace, as President Trump pointed out. And, I thought powerful too, for President Trump to say, ‘Leave and don’t come back until you’re serious about peace, and then you can come back.’ So, there was an invitation there from President Trump to come back when you change your tone, and when you’re serious about all this.”
“I think the most important thing to unpack from all of this is the signal —the message that President Trump sent not to Ukraine, but to the rest of the world yesterday. That America is not going to be taken advantage by anybody, this isn’t about Russia and Ukraine. This is about America, and what is in America’s best interest. We will not be stepped on by foreign countries around the world. America will do its part, but it will be in America’s best interest. And, I thought that was the powerful message to the rest of the world that was sent yesterday, that I’ve never seen an American president in my lifetime send before.”
