Sen. Chris Coons (D-Delaware) said he was pleased that former President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy were able to meet, but found it “extremely awkward” when Trump mentioned Russian President Vladimir Putin. “There was a moment,” he said.
“I'm glad they met. It's important that there be a dialogue between President Zelensky and both our Republican and Democratic leaders and our next presidential candidate,” Coons said on “Fox News Sunday.” spoke.
President Trump and President Zelenskiy met on Friday during the Ukrainian president's recent visit to the United States. Republican presidential candidate Trump praised his relationship with Putin and said he would work with both parties to “work out something that is good for both sides.”
Coons said Sunday that there was footage of a meeting between President Trump and President Zelensky in which the former president told the Ukrainian leader that he was a “very good friend” of President Putin.
“And you could see Mr. Zelensky kind of freeze up and say, 'I'd rather be a friend of Ukraine than a friend of Russia under Putin,'” Coons said. “So it was a very awkward moment.”
The Delaware senator called President Putin a “war criminal” who carried out a “terrible attack” on Kiev.
“You shouldn't say that the president of the United States is trying to be a better friend of President Vladimir Putin,” Coons said.
