Rep. Mike Turner Struggles To Answer Whether Trump Supports Russia Or Ukraine

Representative Mike Turner (Republican, Ohio) flailed on air when asked which side President Donald Trump supports in the Russia–Ukraine War.

“Clearly, Trump is on the side of peace, and he’s trying to balance these two forces, which is very, very difficult to bring these two parties together,” he shakily told host Jonathan Karl on ABC’s This Week on Sunday.

Karl then grilled the Ohio congressman over Trump blaming Ukraine for initiating the war with Russia.

“Trump has repeatedly said that Ukraine never should have started this war or words to that effect,” he told Turner. “I mean, Ukraine didn’t start this war! They were invaded. So, how does that affect his effort to try to broker a peace deal?”

Turner agreed with Karl that Russia started the war, but avoided directly answering the host’s question.

“Clearly, a war of aggression is started by Russia — and it has been started by Russia,” Turner said. “And I think that Trump’s sense of wanting peace is incredibly important, and I think it’s a noble goal.”

Noting that he thinks “we’re getting closer,” Turner said that he thinks Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is “coming with a plan that is workable and that could get us there.”

“And hopefully, with our allies in Europe that have come together — which they seem to be working and advancing the type of security assurances we’re going to need with the United States, that hopefully, we can deter Russia in the future,” he added.

Earlier in the interview, Turner declared that “you can’t be America first and be pro-Russia.”

“Russia is a self-declared adversary of the United States, and here they are mercilessly killing Ukrainians and trying to take Ukrainian land,” he added.

Meanwhile, Trump hosted Zelenskyy in Mar-a-Lago on Sunday to try and reach agreement on the US-brokered peace plan to end the Russia-Ukraine war. Ahead of his meeting with Zelenskyy, the right-wing leader said on Sunday in a Truth Social post that he had a “good and very productive” call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Watch Turner’s appearance on This Week below.