But the Turkish leader was also on the receiving end of stinging words.
Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who was among the Republican attendees in the Oval Office meeting, recounted on Thursday that Mr. Erdogan — a strongman rarely challenged directly at home — “went nuts” after Mr. Graham used the word “invasion” to describe Turkey’s widely condemned military offensive against the Kurdish fighters.
“I said, ‘Well, the reason it’s an invasion is that’s exactly what you did,’” Mr. Graham said. “I warned you not to do it. And everything that I was worried about came true in spades.”
In response to Mr. Erdogan’s video, Mr. Graham recalled, “I said, ‘Want me to get the Kurds to make one about what you’re doing?’”
Analysts said that Mr. Trump probably hoped such exchanges would demonstrate for his Turkish counterpart, with whom he has sought warm relations, the pressure he faces from members of Congress who are furious over the Turkish military action in Syria, as well as Turkey’s purchase of a Russian antiaircraft missile system. Leaders of both parties in Congress have called for sanctions to punish the moves by Turkey, a North Atlantic Treaty Organization ally that under Mr. Erdogan’s leadership has moved toward authoritarianism, including closer ties with Russia.
Mr. Trump said he wanted to salvage that relationship, and on Wednesday he cited a 70-year alliance between Washington and Ankara forged during the Cold War, when Turkey feared Soviet domination.
The Republican senators in attendance — Mr. Graham, Joni Ernst of Iowa, Jim Risch of Idaho, Ted Cruz of Texas and Rick Scott of Florida — share that view, but have been far more willing than Mr. Trump to criticize the Turkish leader.
“Primarily, this was Trump’s favor to Erdogan, allowing him to plead his case directly with the Republican senators in an attempt to prevent a veto-proof sanctions vote against Turkey,” said Aykan Erdemir, a former member of Turkey’s Parliament and now a senior fellow with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington.