Senate Republicans are defending President Trump's decision to pause aid for Ukraine as a negotiating tactic days after his public spat with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office.

GOP lawmakers are still feeling the aftershocks of Friday’s blowup, which shelved a minerals deal between the two leaders.

However, many of the GOP's ardent Ukraine supporters believe the administration’s decision to press pause on delivering aid is nothing more than a ploy to get the Ukrainians back to the table to sign the minerals deal and to pave the way toward a larger deal to end the war with Russia.

“I don’t think it’ll last long. I’m hoping it doesn’t last long. I think the president just wants to get everybody to the table, and I think he’s making progress,” Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) said. “I think President Zelensky’s response that I saw this morning was a positive one and moving in the right direction.”

“Even if you have Russia invading Ukraine, at some stage of the day you have to move past the World War I stance that we’ve got on the battlefield right now. I think the president wants to get there and it sounds like he is making some........

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