For Immediate Release
March 2, 2025
Contact: Taylor Haulsee
WASHINGTON — Speaker Johnson joined NBC’s Meet the Press, CNN’s State of the Union, and Fox Business’ Sunday Morning Futures to discuss Ukrainian President Zelensky’s Oval Office meeting, preview President Trump’s Joint Address to Congress, and provide an update on Congressional Democrats unreasonable demands regarding FY25 appropriations.
On President Zelensky’s Oval Office meeting Friday:
I have participated in a lot of bilateral meetings in my time with heads of state and other dignitaries, there’s always a certain protocol that goes along with this. I’ve never seen anything like President Zelensky’s behavior there. He berated and interrupted his host instead of expressing gratitude for the extraordinary help that the U.S. has provided his country and effectively helped him stay alive and stay in power. So, the way that that went down was very disappointing. I hope and pray, frankly, that President Zelensky will come to his senses, come back to President Trump, express gratitude as he should, apologize for his behavior there, and accept this mineral rights deal. Because that is the best way for us to get to a point of peace over there in that region, and it’s in the interest of both countries.
On the suggestion that Republicans are on Putin’s side:
It’s pretty absurd for anyone in the media or Democrats to somehow proclaim that President Trump, the White House, or Republicans in Congress are on Putin’s side. It’s a joke. We understand that he is a dangerous adversary, and he is the one that provoked the war.
On ending the Russia-Ukraine war:
When we did the aid to Ukraine a year ago, the entire point of that, and I was consistent from that moment until today, the whole point was to position Ukraine for peace talks to make sure that they could hold the line until President Trump returned to the White House, which we knew was going to happen.
President Trump is the only figure on the entire globe who is powerful enough to bring both of these parties to the table. And he was in the process of doing that, and he was very, I think, excited about the deal that was going to be consummated yesterday. But President Zelensky went in and blew it up, and it is such a great disappointment for everyone. We need to get him back to the table. We need to get Ukraine to express gratitude, of course, for all that we’ve done for them. But to bring an end to this conflict is in America’s interest to get this done and it is certainly, obviously, in Ukraine’s interest and all of our allies in Europe and around the world.
On Congressional Democrats unreasonable FY25 funding demands:
In the negotiations on the FY25 spending bills heading up to the March 14 deadline, we’ll have to probably pass a clean CR instead of separate appropriations bills. Why? Because the Democrats in Congress were trying to demand that as a condition of appropriations, that we would somehow tie the hands of the President, limit his authority, put Elon Musk in a corner and take him off his mission. We’re not doing that. That’s a non-starter, and Democrats know that, so I hope they’ll be reasonable.
We all have a responsibility to keep the government open and operating, and Republicans are going to do our job in that regard. We’re going to pass a clean CR to get us past FY25 and Maria, the exciting thing is FY26 the budgeting where we will actually be able to change the way this is done and incorporate all the extraordinary savings that DOGE is uncovering through fraud, waste, and abuse, the other revenues that President Trump is bringing about because of his policies with the tariffs and otherwise. It’s going to be a totally different ball game for FY26, and we are very excited to get to that point.
On President Trump’s Joint Address to Congress:
President Trump is coming in a triumphant return to Congress to address us as the president once again, and in the first month of office, he has accomplished so much that it could fill three hours. I suspect he’ll speak in a shorter time frame than that, but Maria there’s so much to relay. Normally, at this point in a president’s term, a new president’s term, they would not deliver a State of the Union. It would be just simply a joint address, as it’s entitled. But in this case, it actually will be more like a State of the Union address, because President Trump has such a long series of victories, things that he has done, promises he has kept, and it is putting America back on a strong footing, and we can’t wait to welcome him back to the chamber,
###