During an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Johnson disagreed with comments made on March 1 by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), a long-time critic of Trump within the GOP, who stated that Trump is “walking away from our allies and embracing [Russian President Vladimir] Putin.”

The Speaker countered by saying that Murkowski is “plainly wrong” and that “the person who walked away from the table yesterday was President Zelenskyy.”

Johnson’s comments to NBC about Zelenskyy stepping down mirrored those made by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a leading Republican supporter of Ukraine throughout the three-year conflict, who stated on February 28 that Zelenskyy might need to step down, The Epoch Times noted.

“The question for me is, ‘Is he redeemable in the eyes of Americans?’ Most Americans witnessing what they saw today would not want Zelenskyy to be their business partner, including me, and I’ve been to Ukraine nine times since the war started,” Graham told Fox News last week.

The senator added that Zelenskyy needs to apologize to Trump. “If he can’t say that, then Ukraine—you need to either send us somebody new we can deal with or just accept the consequences,” Graham said.

Meanwhile, Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz told CNN’s “State of the Union” last week that the United States needs “a leader that can deal with us, eventually deal with the Russians and end this war.”

“If it becomes apparent that President Zelenskiy’s either personal motivations or political motivations are divergent from ending the fighting in his country, then I think we have a real issue on our hands,” Waltz said.

The United States has been Kyiv’s primary supporter since Russian forces invaded Ukraine in 2022, committing over $174 billion in Ukraine-related assistance, The Epoch Times added.