joining me now is republican senator james lankford of oklahoma.elcome back to "meet the press "qwest. >> thanks. good to see you again. >> great to see you. you have been a longtime supporter of defending ukraine. in fact, in 2022 you co-sponsored legislation that called for the u.s. to protect ukraine, quote, before, during and after the invasion. based on what you witnessed in the oval office, senator, are you concerned that the united states is turning its back on ukraine? >> no. we're not turning our back on ukraine nor should we. putin is a murderous kgb thug that murders his political enemies and is a dictator there, and so we've seen this. we've seen his aggression. countries around him have seen this. obviously the ukrainian people have seen that. the challenge is now we are at a stalemate and this is a world war i-like trench warfare and it is good to be at least a pause and when i hear president trump saying over and over and say we need to get to a stop in fighting and find a resolution. zelenskyy is rightfully concerned that putin has

host: senator james lankford. the senate is in today at 3:00 p.m. eastern.he house returns at noon. we are expecting a busy week here on capitol hill including a joint address to congress and the american people by president trump from the house of representatives. it is what in other years would be called a state of the union address. simply referred to as a joint address in the president's first year after an election. that is on tuesday night. we will cover it here on c-span. 7:30, asking this question, what is america's role in the world. what do you think? caller: thank you for taking my call. i have three points. as far as the united states role , after world war ii we were the leader of the free world. we were a safe haven, protections for the world. we also control and try to fight people -- evil. i have not watched any senator in the last seven days even talk about this, about russia. this is what i think, i looked at that and i just think that was a terrible thing that happened in the oval office the other day. i think they should still pay for our

the press," when kristen is joined by house speaker mike johnson, along with bernie sanders and james lankfordand nbc news will have complete coverage of president trump's address to a joint session of congress on tuesday night. that beginning at 9:00 p.m. eastern right here on nbc and streaming on news now. >>> this morning, israel is blocking aid into gaza and saying it will not resume if hamas does not accept its proposal to extend the current cease-fire. negotiations between what comes next between the two sides has stalled in the last few weeks. israel warning hamas there will be additional consequences if the militant group refuses to work out a new deal to extend the cease-fire. >>> hopeful news from the vatican this morning where officials say pope francis had a peaceful night. the pope suffered a health setback on friday when he had trouble breathing and had to be put a vent lilator. he has improved but the vatican reports his prognosis remains guarded. in the angelless prayer, that he wrote in the hospital, he thanked the faithful for their prayers. >>> former new york governor andre

brutal dictatorship and oklahoma senator james lankford responded to calls from some in his own party for zelensky to step down for frank. i think that would spiral ukraine into chaos right now before that meetings, abrupt and president trump and president zelensky were supposed to sign a minerals deal. >> that president trump says would have helped repay the u.s. for its support for ukraine and also moved russia and ukraine closer toward a peace deal. now president zelenskyy says he's still willing to sign that deal in washington. i'm today some lot back to you. >> the u.s. could to support ukraine and even from the geopolitical considerations makes a lot of sense for the u.s. to support ukraine. so the hope that this message comes and you hope the united states government makes decisions accordingly. notice representative from bay area nonprofit noble ukraine says people in the ukrainian community are feeling. >> anxious after satter, friday's heated meeting there in the oval office and as we just said, peace talks imploded between the president and now the future of u.s. support fo

exclusive interviews, as mentioned with house speaker mike johnson, oklahoma republican senator james lankford, and as mentioned, independent vermont senator bernie sanders. if you just stick right here with us for today in the bay. meet the press is on at 8 a.m. right after this newscast. and coming up this week, as mentioned on tuesday, be sure to join nbc news for special coverage of president donald trump's first joint address to congress. coverage begins at 6 p.m. right here on nbc bay area. and as always, we will talk to nbc bay area political analyst larry gerston for our weekly segment. we'll take a look at the u.s. ukrainian relationship and what that explosive meeting with president trump, vice president and ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky means for peace talks. history was made while we were sleeping early this morning. robotic lander blue ghost touched down on the lunar surface. it's only the second privately built spacecraft to successfully land on the moon. blue ghost was created by texas based firefly aerospace. that's video of the landing happened around 1 a.m. this morn

but then you also heard some more nuanced takes from other republicans like this, from senator james lankford. take a listen. >> no, we're not turning. >> our back. >> on ukraine, nor should we. putin is a murderous kgb thug that murders his political enemies and is a dictator there. and so we've seen that. we've seen his aggression. countries around him have seen that. obviously, the ukrainian people have seen that. larry snelling. >> and now kate, of course, this also comes as there are questions about how does the white house and the trump administration move forward as it relates to seeking a peace deal with ukraine and russia? but also just to go back to the speech, just very quickly, we do have new cnn polling that i think is striking to keep in mind through all of this. we saw that right now, the president's approval rating is 48% of americans approve of his performance, 52% disapprove. notable, though, that this poll was taken before that oval office meeting on friday. so, again, all, you know, kind of that context as he heads into that speech tomorrow. >> absolutely. good to see you,

how about those republicans like james lankford? how about those republicans like mitch mcconnell? i guess the former lindsey graham, who were supportive of ukraine's efforts to beat back the russian invasion. how will they feel tomorrow night if we see more of the oval office friday version of president trump in this address to congress? >> well, i think it's absurd to say that we are abandoning an ally after what occurred on friday in the oval office. if we were abandoning allies, the president of the united states would not have met with the president of france, the prime minister of the united kingdom, and the president of ukraine in the span of just a couple of days at the white house, he hosted all of them. he would not have sat next to the president of ukraine in the oval office, which clearly and obviously annoyed vladimir putin. he wouldn't have had a deal literally on the table in the east room, ready to be signed. that also annoyed vladimir putin. so to think that we're abandoning an ally, i think is farcical, and i'm sure we're all going to be watching and listening ver

. >> republican senator james lankford defended zelensky. so from a diplomatic perspective, how do you view domestic lawmakers openly debating whether zelensky should continue to lead his country after clashing with president trump? >> it's outrageous. it's absolutely outrageous. the arrogance of the speaker to say that the democratically elected leader of ukraine fighting for his existence, for his country should resign. it's absolutely outrageous. it does no good. it doesn't help any national interest of the united states. i want to keep coming back to this. what is good for american national security. leave the ukrainians aside. this is no good for our american national security. and it's exactly what putin has been wanting since he invaded ukraine. so what team are we on? have we switched to the russian side? because i don't think the american people want to go along with president trump and the speaker to end up on the russian side, the side of dictatorship against democracy. 81% of the american people don't trust putin. and i think the

at the same time, gop senator james lankford of oklahoma defended president zelenskyy during an intervieway on meet the press. >> no. >> we're not turning our back. >> on ukraine, nor. >> should we. putin is a murderous kgb thug that murders his political enemies and is a dictator there. and so we've seen that. we've seen his aggression. countries around him have seen that. what i hear president trump saying. >> over and over. >> again is we need to get to a stop in fighting, find some resolution. i understand zelensky is rightfully concerned that putin has violated every single agreement he's ever signed, and that he can't be trusted. i think they understand each other and that obviously there are differences where zelensky wants more in the way of some kind of security guarantees. the united states is not willing to be able to put troops on the ground. >> joining us now. >> retired cia. >> officer marc polymeropoulos, he's an nbc news security and intelligence analyst. we just ran through a lot of reaction, including vice president mike pence, who we didn't mention there, putting an op

jon: senator james lankford said the situation could wind up looking a lot like the border between north are at a stalemate and we need to get these 2 folks at the table. get to some kind of a resolution to something that made it look like north and south korea for a long time and have a line where people are looking at each other but not an active work. jon: what about that? i guess the korean war still is officially on there is not an official peace deal signed. would you be okay with the situation like that and ukraine? >> ukraine is going to have to make a decision. senator lankford may be right, who knows we will end up. but right now you have full scale or ongoing. putin getting north korea on his side bringing in soldiers. so, we are talking about speculation what could be a diplomatic resolution. but the way president trump is talking about it, ukraine is not even at the table. that he convened a meeting with russia and excluded ukraine from that meeting. so, that does not suggest to me that they are serious negotiation. that suggests to meet the president has made a decision. ma