Trump tells Zelenskyy to leave after heated Oval Office clash
President Trump and Zelenskyy got in a heated exchange in the Oval Office as peace talks fall apart.
Never before.
Never before has a president of the United States unleashed a rain of acrimony, recriminations and threats against a foreign leader − not to mention a wartime ally − in front of television cameras.
President Donald Trump’s verbal assault on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as ungrateful and misguided not only immediately undercut the deal on rare minerals that was ready for their signature in the East Room. It also puts at risk U.S. support for Ukraine in its war with Russia. It could imperil Zelenskyy’s political future.
Oval Office smackdown
In time, the shouting match in the Oval Office may turn out to be a pivot point in a realignment that moves Washington closer to Moscow and further from European allies who see Russia’s territorial ambitions as existential. They may now be forced to choose between accepting the terms of a U.S.-negotiated peace or continuing the war without America’s participation.
If the stakes weren’t so high, the Oval Office smackdown might have seemed like a reality-TV version of foreign policy. “This is going to be great television, I’ll tell you that,” Trump said as the press pool left the room.
The contrast with the delicate dance that French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer demonstrated in visits with Trump this week was stark. They had taken pains to shower Trump with praise as an historic leader, even while carefully correcting a misstatement or two he made.
Instead, Zelenskyy bristled as Trump and Vice President JD Vance warned him it was time to strike a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “You’re either going to make a deal or we’re out,” Trump told him. “And if we’re out, you’ll fight it out and I don’t think it’s going to be pretty.”
That deal now seems likely to grant Russia some of the territorial gains it has made since invading Ukraine three years ago – and to not include the security guarantees that Kiev has sought.
When a reporter asked what would happen if Putin didn’t live up to the terms of a ceasefire, Trump brushed the idea away. “What if a bomb dropped on your head right now?” he retorted.
Trump and Zelenskyy: It’s personal
The Oval Office argument seemed fueled not only by policy differences over the war − a conflict that in Trump’s “America First” view of the world isn’t seen as crucial to U.S. interests. It also had overtones of the long-standing personal conflict between the two men.
In Trump’s first term, his efforts to force Zelenskyy to investigate corruption allegations against Joe Biden. then a political rival, led to Trump’s impeachment by the House of Representatives. The president hasn’t forgotten old grievances: In the Oval Office, he not only mentioned Hunter Biden but also said he and Putin had together endured the special-counsel investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Vance lights a fire
Now the angry exchanges could provide ammunition for Trump’s long-standing desire to push the Ukraine-Russia war to a quick end. During last year’s campaign, he had boasted that he could end the war in his first 24 hours in office, or even before then, a promise that has proved elusive.
After Trump had called for “one more question” from the journalists in the press pool, Vance lit a fire in a room that was already was tense. He accused Zelenskyy was waging a “propaganda tour” and hadn’t been “respectful” to the United States. Zelenskyy replied that the United States could feel threatened by Russia in the future, despite the “nice ocean” between the two countries.
“Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel,” Trump replied, accusing Zelensky of being “very disrespectful to the country, this country, that’s backed you far more than a lot of people said they should have.”
After the reporters were finally escorted out of the Oval Office, the argument reportedly continued until the two sides separated and White House officials eventually told Zelenskyy to leave, their planned news conference and signing ceremony abruptly canceled.
Soon afterwards, Zelenskyy issued a written statement. “Thank you America, thank you for your support, thank you for this visit,” he wrote, then mentioned President Trump. “Thank you @POTUS, Congress, and the American people.”
‘You don’t have the cards’: Trump, Zelenskyy clash over war
President Donald Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy got into a heated exchange during their meeting in the Oval Office.
But that seemed likely to be too little, too late, for the forces that had been unleashed.
Trump had already posted his own message on the social-media site, Truth Social. Zelenskyy “is not ready for Peace if America is involved,” he wrote. “He disrespected the United States in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for Peace.”