Zelensky Leaves White House After Clash With Trump
“President Trump and Vice President Vance engaged in a heated argument with President Zelensky of Ukraine, criticizing his leadership and demanding a peace deal with Russia. Zelensky defended his actions, highlighting Russia’s aggression and emphasizing the need for security guarantees. European leaders expressed support for Ukraine following the confrontation, while some Republicans, including Senator Graham, suggested Zelensky should consider resigning.
Trump Administration Live Updates: Trump and Vance Berate Zelensky, Exposing Break Between Wartime Allies
transcript
President Trump and Vice President JD Vance had a hostile exchange with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine during a televised meeting in the Oval Office on Friday involving a potential peace deal with Russia.
“Do you disagree that you’ve had problems bringing people into your military?” “We have problems.” “And do you think that it’s respectful to come to the Oval Office of the United States of America and attack the administration that is trying to prevent the destruction of your country?” “First of all, during the war everybody has problems. Even you, but you have a nice ocean and don’t feel now. But you will feel it in the future. God bless —” “You don’t know that.” “God bless, you do not have war.” “Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel.” “You’re, right now, not in a very good position. You’ve allowed yourself to be in a very bad position. And he happens to be right —” “From the very beginning of the war.” “You’re not in a good position. You don’t have the cards, right now. With us, you start having cards.” “We’re not playing cards.” “Right now, you don’t — you’re playing cards. You’re playing cards. You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people. You’re gambling with World War III. You’re gambling with World War III. And what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country — this country — that’s backed you far more than a lot of people said they should have.” “Have you said, ‘Thank you,’ once this entire meeting? No — in this entire meeting, have you said, ‘Thank you?’ What makes America a good country is America engaging in diplomacy. That’s what President Trump is doing.” “In 2019, I signed with him the deal. I signed with him, Macron and Merkel. We signed cease-fire. He broke the cease-fire. He killed our people, and he didn’t exchange prisoners. We signed the exchange of prisoners, but he didn’t do it. What kind of diplomacy, JD, you are speaking about? What do you mean?” “I’ve empowered you to be a tough guy. And I don’t think you’d be a tough guy without the United States. And your people are very brave. But you’re either going to make a deal or we’re out. And if we’re out, you’ll fight it out. I don’t think it’s going to be pretty, but you’ll fight it out. But you don’t have the cards. But once we sign that deal, you’re in a much better position. But you’re not acting at all thankful.”
Pinned
The United States’ relationship with Ukraine erupted in a storm of acrimony on Friday as President Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine in an explosive televised Oval Office showdown and abruptly cut short a visit meant to coordinate a plan for peace.
In a fiery public confrontation unlike any seen between an American president and foreign leader in modern times, Mr. Trump and Mr. Vance castigated Mr. Zelensky for not being grateful enough for U.S. support in Ukraine’s war with Russia, and sought to strong-arm him into making a peace deal on whatever terms the Americans dictated.
As Vice President JD Vance berated President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine in the Oval Office on Friday, he claimed that Mr. Zelensky had gone “to Pennsylvania and campaigned for the opposition in October,” before the presidential election last year.
Mr. Zelensky did go to Pennsylvania last fall, but his trip unfolded far differently from how Mr. Vance described it.
Rubio says that Zelensky’s “frustrations are not unique to President Trump,” referring to reports that the Ukrainian leader had private arguments with former President Joseph R. Biden Jr.
Rubio, who has excoriated Putin for years as a war criminal, “killer,” “monster,” and clear aggressor in Ukraine, tells CNN: “I’m not going to fall into this trap of who is bad and who’s evil. People can make those conclusions.” Rubio adds about the war, “The point now is it has to end.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio says in the CNN interview that President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, in his remarks to Vice President JD Vance in the Oval Office this afternoon, appeared to be “making the argument that peace is not possible” because Vladimir Putin of Russia “can’t be trusted, and you’re just wasting your time on negotiations.” That is “undermining everything the president has told him he’s trying to do,” Rubio says.
Rubio says that Zelensky could have signed an economic agreement with the U.S. five days ago, but “insisted on coming to Washington.” Blaming Zelensky for the Oval Office blowup, he said it was a major mistake to show up and “start lecturing us about how diplomacy isn’t going to work.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio tells CNN in an interview that “maybe Zelensky doesn’t want a peace deal. He says he does, but maybe he doesn’t,” referring to President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine. Rubio says that “attacking Putin, no matter how anyone may feel about him personally,” and “calling him names, making maximalist demands” does not make a deal to end the war with the Russian leader easier to achieve.
“And that active open undermining of efforts to bring about peace is deeply frustrating,” Rubio adds. Zelensky “should apologize for wasting our time.”
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine entered the White House for a meeting with President Donald Trump on Friday knowing that the flow of weapons and military hardware from the United States to his country had essentially stopped.
By the time he left, after a televised argument between the two leaders, the situation appeared even more dire.
One of the most surreal moments of Friday’s Oval Office showdown between President Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine came at the very end.
After all the shouting and the saber-rattling and the lecturing and the pleading and the politicking had ceased, the American president shifted a little in his seat and shared an observation.
European leaders quickly pledged their continued support for Ukraine on Friday after President Trump’s blistering criticism of Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, in a meeting at the White House.
Leaders lined up behind Ukraine and praised its embattled president, the statements coming one after the other: from France, Germany, Poland, Spain, Denmark, the Netherlands, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Norway, Finland, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Slovenia, Belgium, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Ireland. Canadian, Australian and New Zealand leaders added their voices to the Europeans’.
On Fox News, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, is describing President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine as “rude” and “antagonistic.” She says it is “absolutely not true” that today’s blowup came as a result of any sort of ambush planned by Trump and Vance.
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine concluded the interview on Fox News by expressing regret about his exchange with President Trump and thanking the United States for its support. “We are thankful and sorry for this,” he said. Zelensky also told Bret Baier that “of course” he could salvage his relationship with Trump.
Zelensky said he wished President Trump was more supportive of Ukraine instead of him trying to play the role of the mediator. He reiterated that Russia started the conflict by invading Ukraine. “I want really him to be more at our side,” Zelensky says.
Zelensky says the spat in the Oval Office was “not good for both sides.”
Zelensky says he does not know whether the confrontation with President Trump and Vice President JD Vance was a planned ambush, as some Democrats have suggested. “It was just a really tough situation,” he says.
Zelensky, the Ukrainian leader, rejects the idea that he should step down, after Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, told reporters outside the White House that Zelensky should consider resigning after the Oval Office meeting this afternoon.
Zelensky is refusing to back down in the face of the aggression by Trump and Vance. On Fox News, he’s insisting that Ukraine needs security guarantees in order to end the war with Russia.
“I respect our soldiers,” Zelensky says. He says he can’t just say ‘stop’ to his soldiers because people in his country want a just and lasting peace. Essentially, he is saying that he won’t just give up and let Russia win.
President Zelensky tries to give the same history lesson on Fox News that President Trump and Vice President Vance took such umbrage with during the meeting in the Oval Office.
On Fox News, Bret Baier asks President Zelensky if he feels like he owes President Trump an apology for the confrontation in the Oval Office this afternoon. Zelensky does not directly answer the question.
Baier follows up, pressing him on whether he owes Trump an apology. Zelensky, once again, declines to apologize. “I think that we have to be very open and very honest,” he says. “And I’m not sure that we did something bad.”
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, appearing on Fox News after President Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated him in the Oval Office today, began his interview with Bret Baier by thanking the American people for supporting Ukraine in its war with Russia. “You helped us to survive,” he says.
A person with knowledge of the events said that after the meeting in the Oval Office blew up, U.S. officials regrouped and ultimately decided to tell President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine to leave. The Ukrainians waited in the Roosevelt Room. Ultimately, two U.S. officials were dispatched to tell the Ukrainians to leave. One of the Ukrainians proposed a meeting between Trump and Zelensky to calm things down; the Americans said no, the person said.
As President Trump left the White House to travel to Florida for the weekend, he assailed President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine further, saying that the Ukrainian leader did not want peace. “He’s looking to go on and fight, fight, fight,” Trump told reporters on the South Lawn. “We’re looking to end the death.”
Asked if he wanted Zelensky to step down, Trump said, “I want somebody that’s going to make peace.”
Fourteen Democratic governors released a joint statement condemning how President Trump and Vice President JD Vance treated President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine today at the White House and pledging their support for Ukraine.
“Donald Trump and JD Vance used the sacred Oval Office to berate President Zelensky for not trusting Vladimir Putin’s word,” the governors said. “Americans must protect our strong democratic values on the world stage instead of undermining President Zelensky’s work to fight for his nation and the freedom of his people after being invaded by Russia.”
Before receiving an Oval Office tirade from President Trump and before his White House visit was unceremoniously cut short on Friday, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine was welcomed warmly by a bipartisan group of senators at a closed-door gathering at the Hay-Adams Hotel near the White House.
Republicans who have been among the Senate’s staunchest Russia hawks grinned and clasped hands with Mr. Zelensky in photographs posted on social media. But by the afternoon, at least one of them, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, was outside the White House suggesting that Mr. Zelensky should resign.
Speaker Mike Johnson, who last year put his own job on the line when he brought to the floor a supplemental aide package to give more than $60 billion in aide to Ukraine, responded on social media to the explosive Oval Office meeting by praising President Trump. “Thanks to President Trump - the days of America being taken advantage of and disrespected are OVER,” he wrote, adding. “What we witnessed in the Oval Office today was an American President putting America first”
A meeting between President Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine on Friday turned into an angry showdown at the Oval Office. At times cross talk made some comments difficult to understand. Here are key excerpts from the heated exchange.
Trump (responding to a reporter): I’m not aligned with Putin. I’m not aligned with anybody. I’m aligned with the United States of America. And for the good of the world. I’m aligned with the world. And I want to get this thing over with. You see the hatred he’s got for Putin. It’s very tough for me to make a deal with that kind of hate. He’s got tremendous hatred. And I understand that. But I can tell you the other side isn’t exactly in love with him either.
Senator Lindsey Graham told Fox News that President Zelensky should use his scheduled interview with host Bret Baier to apologize and tell the world that he “screwed up big time.” Graham was among several senators who met with Zelensky before his meeting with the president. “I told him this morning, don’t take the bait, don’t let the media or anybody else get you into an argument with President Trump,” he said, adding, “Zelensky is going to have to fundamentally change or go.”
Graham was sent out to talk with reporters at the White House, so his comments can reasonably be taken as a message from Trump.
President Zelensky issued a statement on social media thanking the United States and President Trump. “Thank you America, thank you for your support, thank you for this visit,” he wrote, then he thanked Trump. While berating Zelensky earlier at the White House, Trump had told the Ukrainian president, “You’re not acting at all thankful.”
President Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine were supposed to sign an agreement here in the East Room of the White House today for the United States to share in Ukraine’s rare mineral wealth. But the ceremony was canceled after a heated exchange between Trump, Zelensky and Vice President JD Vance in the Oval Office.“
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