The heated exchange that unfolded in the Oval Office on Friday took a turn for the worse when President Donald Trump took exception to Ukrainian President Zelensky’s treatment of his vice president, JD Vance.
According to White House officials who spoke to DailyMail.com, the dramatic altercation was not part of a planned effort to embarrass Zelensky or to undermine his tough negotiating position or to gain an upper hand in a failed rare earth minerals agreement.
Initially, Trump had a cordial rapport with Zelensky during their initial interactions. However, Trump’s first remark, which was inadvertently captured on a hot microphone, was a casual comment about Zelensky’s casual attire. (Zelensky had been intentionally dressing down as a form of protest following Russia’s invasion of his country in 2022.)
‘Zelensky should not have gone after JD,’ said a senior White House official in the minutes after the stunning confrontation played out on television. The official said Zelensky’s digs prompted Trump, 78, to defend his 40-year-old Number Two – and the situation quickly escalated.
The clash with the VP that kicked off the angry back-and-forth came in a meeting where Zelensky was on Trump’s turf in an effort to try to gain security guarantees in a rare earth minerals deal that Trump says will provide a form of protection by putting U.S. business interests inside his country.
The White House was looking for appreciation. Instead, some of Zelensky’s gestures got interpreted as if he couldn’t tolerate what he was hearing.
‘This was not planned at all,’ said one source familiar with the situation, denying it was any kind of premeditated ambush.
But Trump ally Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) appears to have had a head’s up that some kind of skirmish was coming.
A verbal spat between Ukrainian President Zelensky and Vice President JD Vance kicked off an angry Oval Office meeting
‘I talked to Zelensky this morning: Don’t take the bait,’ Graham told reporters at the White House after Zelensky had left the compound and a planned joint press conference with Trump had been scratched, with Trump announcing negotiations were off.
‘President Trump was in a very good mood last night. Somebody asked, am I embarrassed about Trump? I have never been more proud of the president standing up for our country,’ Graham said. He called the meeting an ‘absolute, utter disaster.’
As hot as things got inside the Oval Office, there were indications President Trump was relishing the blowup after it unfolded.
‘This is going to be great television, I will say that,’ Trump remarked at the end.
Trump called on a U.S.-based Polish reporter who pressed him on the U.S. posture toward Russia. Trump called the question ‘stupid’. But then later on in an exchange that lasted 50 minutes, Trump called on the same reporter – whose queries prompted Vance to say Ukraine had been ungrateful for billions in U.S. support.
Vance blamed previous Democratic U.S. administrations for failing to stop Russia, but Zelensky tried to shift the conversation back to Putin. ‘He killed people,’ he said.
‘What kind of diplomacy, JD, are you speaking about,’ the Ukrainian asked, referring to Vance by his first name rather than his formal title.
Sources said the clash was unplanned, and that Zelensky should not have tangled with the VP inside the Oval Office
‘Wow look, you’re all dressed up today,’ Trump told the Ukrainian leader when he arrived at the White House
Trump declared it ‘great television’ when it was over
The remark set off Vance – who lectured Zelensky, and then got told off by the visitor for failing to visit Ukraine as a senator, even while many others made the pilgrimage.
‘I’m talking about the kind of diplomacy that’s going to end the destruction of your country, Mr. President [Zelensky]. Mr. President, with respect. I think it’s disrespectful for you to come to the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media,’ said Vance.
‘Have you ever been to Ukraine that you see the problems we have?’ Zelensky asked Vance, who last April in the Senate voted against a package with $61 billion in aid for Ukraine.
‘I have been to – I’ve actually, I’ve actually watched and seen the stories, and I know what happens is you bring people. You bring them on a propaganda tour, Mr. President,’ Vance shot back.
Then Trump jumped in to defend his vice president. ‘You’ve allowed to be in a very bad position, and it happens to be right about that. YOu’re not in a good position. You don’t have the cards right now.’
‘I’m not playing cards,’ Zelensky responded, speaking over him.
‘Have you said thank you once?’ Vance blasted Zelensky at one point in the conflagration.
‘Just say thank you,’ Vance told him. ‘I said it a lot of times,’ Zelensky responded.
Zelensky’s first words had been: ‘Thank you so much, Mr. President, thank you for the invitation’ – although Vance appeared to be seeking gratitude for the massive infusion of military aid.
Zelensky could have a beef with Zelensky over some of his past comments. ‘I gotta be honest with you, I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine one way or another,’ Vance said back in 2022, even as members of both parties were rallying around the country.
And when Vance spoke at the Munich Security Conference this month, he elevated free speech issues over the Russia threat.
‘The threat that I worry the most about vis-à-vis Europe is not Russia. It’s not China. It’s not any other external actor,’ Vance said at the time. ‘What I worry about is the threat from within — the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values, values shared with the United States of America.’
