Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) slammed President Donald Trump for calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a “dictator” on Wednesday, claiming that Trump is afraid of Vladimir Putin during an appearance on CNN.
On Wednesday morning, Trump raged at the Ukrainian leader amid peace negotiations with Russia by blaming him for the current war along with the death of “MILLIONS” in a post on Truth Social.
In recent days, European and Ukrainian leaders have criticized the administration for negotiating with Russia without their input. After calls from Trump to hold new elections in Ukraine, Zelensky responded by declaring that Trump “lives in a disinformation space” of Russian propaganda.
Lieu reacted to Trump’s latest post on Truth Social during an interview with CNN anchor Pamela Brown by claiming that Trump’s body language around Putin shows “weakness”:
LIEU: Donald Trump acts like he is scared of Vladimir Putin. I don’t know why that is, but it is highly disturbing. A few years ago, Donald Trump said he trusted Vladimir Putin more than our own intelligence officials. You see Trump when he was with Putin, the body language Trump sends is one of weakness. And now you see Trump giving away the store when it comes to the Ukraine-Russia conflict and name calling is certainly not helpful. And I wish the president would stop that and show strength. The American people does not want the American president to show weakness. And that’s what Trump is doing right now, showing weakness.
BROWN: So let’s talk about what Zelensky is doing to because he is firing back at Trump. Before this latest post, he is accusing him of living in a disinformation space of Russian propaganda. What do you think about Zelensky’s approach? I mean, you know, we’ve had some on our air who have said, look, Zelensky has no cards to play here, and maybe he should just cool it. What do you think about that?
LIEU: I certainly think that there are ways to say things more diplomatically. However, it’s simply a fact that Donald Trump is spewing Russian disinformation. Russia attacked Ukraine not once, but twice, the first in 2014 when they took Crimea and because the world and United States did nothing about it. Russia attacked again in 2022. And if Trump capitulates to Russia and surrenders, then Russia is going to attack again.
