…Donald Trump ambushed Ukraine
president Volodymyr Zelensky in an attack that seemed designed to give the
White House an excuse for siding with Russia in its war on Ukraine. Vice
President J.D. Vance joined Trump and Zelensky in the Oval Office—his attendance
at such an event was unusual—in front of reporters. Those reporters included
one from Russian state media, but no one from the Associated Press or Reuters,
who were not granted access.
In front of the cameras, Trump
and Vance engaged in what Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo called
a “mob hit,” spouting Russian propaganda and trying to bully Zelensky into
accepting a ceasefire and signing over rights to Ukrainian rare-earth minerals
without guarantees of security. Vance, especially, seemed determined to provoke
a fight in front of the cameras, accusing Zelensky, who has been lavish in his
thanks to the U.S. and lawmakers including Trump, of being ungrateful.
When that didn’t land, Vance said
it was “disrespectful” of Zelensky to “try to litigate this in front of the
American media,” when it was the White House that set up the event in front of
reporters.
Zelensky maintained his composure
and did not rise to the bait, but he did not accept their pro-Russian version
of the war. He insisted that it was in fact Russia that invaded Ukraine and is
still bombing and killing on a daily basis. His refusal to sit silent and
submit meekly to their attack seemed to infuriate them.
Trump appeared to become unhinged
when Zelensky suggested that the U.S. would in the future feel problems,
apparently alluding to the new U.S. relationship with Russia. “You don’t know
that. You don’t know that” Trump erupted. “Don’t tell us what we’re going to
feel. We’re trying to solve a problem. Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel.”
Zelensky answered that he was
just answering the questions Vance was showering on him. “You are in no
position to dictate what we’re going to feel,” Trump said. “We’re going to feel
very good.” Zelensky answered: “You will feel influenced.” Trump disagreed. “We
are going to feel very good and very strong.” “I am telling you,” Zelensky
said. “You will feel influenced.”
Trump appeared to lose control at
that point, ranting at Zelensky that Ukraine was losing and that he must accept
a ceasefire, but also complaining about former presidents Joe Biden and Barack
Obama and echoing Putin’s talking points.
When he could get a word in,
Zelensky reiterated that he would not accept a ceasefire without guarantees of
security and pointed out that Putin had broken a ceasefire agreement in the
past.
Later, when a reporter picked up on that question and asked what would happen if Russia broke a ceasefire agreement, Trump became enraged. Among other things, he said: “Putin went through a hell of a lot with me. He went through a phony witch hunt….”
Trump
referred to what he calls the “Russia, Russia, Russia hoax” that Russia had
worked to elect him in 2016. That effort, though, was not a hoax: the
Republican-dominated Senate Intelligence Committee in 2020 released an
exhaustive report detailing that effort.
One of the things Russian
operatives believed Trump’s team had agreed to, the report said, was Russia’s
annexation of the parts of eastern Ukraine it is now trying to grab through
military occupation.
Then Trump continued to rant at
the reporter, rehashing his version of the story of Hunter Biden’s laptop at
some length, tying in former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and former
representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) in a larger stew that brought up Trump’s
history with both Russia and Ukraine and their roles in his quest to hold
power.
Clinton ran against Trump in
2016, when Russia worked to elect him, and Zelensky came across Trump’s radar
screen when, in July 2019, Trump tried to force Zelensky to say he was
opening an investigation into Hunter Biden in order to smear Biden’s father Joe
Biden before the 2020 election. Only after such an announcement, Trump said,
would he deliver to Ukraine the money Congress had appropriated to help Ukraine
fight off Russia’s 2014 invasion.
Zelensky did not make the
announcement. A whistleblower reported Trump’s phone call, leading to a
congressional investigation that in turn led to Trump’s first impeachment.
Schiff led the House’s impeachment team.
After unloading on the reporter,
Trump abruptly ended today’s meeting, saying it was “going to be great
television.” Shortly afterward, he asked Zelensky and his team to leave the
White House.
This afternoon, former representative Liz Cheney (R-WY) posted: “Generations of American patriots, from our revolution onward, have fought for the principles Zelenskyy is risking his life to defend.
But today, Donald Trump and JD Vance attacked
Zelenskyy and pressured him to surrender the freedom of his people to the KGB
war criminal who invaded Ukraine. History will remember this day—when an
American President and Vice President abandoned all we stand for.”
—Heather Cox Richardson
