Trump, Zelensky, Vance - Oval Office Clash Over U.S. Aid

[00:00:00] Vance

For four years in the United States of America, we had a president who stood up at press conferences and talked tough about Vladimir Putin, and then Putin invaded Ukraine and destroyed a significant chunk of the country. The path to peace and the path to prosperity is maybe engaging in diplomacy. We tried the pathway of Joe Biden of thumping our chest and pretending that the President of the United States' words mattered more than the President of the United States's actions. What makes America a good country is America engaging in diplomacy. That's what President Trump is doing.

[00:00:34] Zelensky

Can I ask you?

[00:00:36]Vance

Sure. Yeah? Yeah.

[00:00:38] Zelensky

Okay. He occupied our parts, big parts of Ukraine, part of East and Crimea. So he occupied it on 2014. During a lot of years, I'm not speaking about just Biden, but those time was Obama, then President Obama, then President Trump, then President Biden, now President Trump, and God bless, now President Trump will stop him. But during 2014, nobody stopped him. He just occupied and took. He killed people. You know what the contact like?

[00:01:14] Trump

2015.

[00:01:16] Zelensky

2014.

[00:01:16]Vance

2014 and 2014.

[00:01:17] Trump

2014?

[00:01:17]Vance

Yeah, yeah. So he killed...

[00:01:19]Trump

I was not here.

[00:01:20]Zelensky

Yeah, but...

[00:01:20]Vance

That's exactly right.

[00:01:21]Zelensky

Yes, but during 2014 till 2022, you know, the situation was the same. People have been dying on the contact line. Nobody stopped him. You know that we had conversations with him, a lot of conversations, my bilateral conversation, and we signed with him, me, like a new president in 2019. I signed with him the deal. I signed with him, Macron and Merkel, we signed ceasefire. Ceasefire. All of them told me that he will never go. We signed him with gas contract. Gas contract. Yes, but after that, he broken the ceasefire. 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, J.D., you are speaking about? What do you mean?

[00:02:17]Vance

I'm talking about the kind of diplomacy that's going to end the destruction of your country. Yes, but if you are strong... Mr. President, Mr. President. With respect, I think it's disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office and try to litigate this in front of the American media. Right now, you guys are going around and forcing conscripts to the front lines because you have manpower problems. You should be thanking the President for trying to bring an end to this conflict. 

[00:02:38]Zelensky

Have you been to Ukraine? That you say what problems we have? 

[00:02:41] Vance

I have been to. 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. Do you disagree that you've had problems bringing people into your military? Do you 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?

[00:03:05]Zelensky

A lot of questions. Let's start from the beginning. Sure. First of all, during the war, everybody has problems. Even you. But you have nice ocean. And don't feel now. But you will feel it in the future. God bless.

[00:03:19]Trump

You don't know that.

[00:03:19]Zelensky

God bless. God bless. You will not have war.

[00:03:22]Trump

Don't tell us what we're going to feel. We're trying to solve a problem. Don't tell me what we're going to feel.

[00:03:27]Zelensky

I'm not telling you.

[00:03:28]Trump

Because you're in no position to dictate that. You're in no position to dictate what we're goingto feel. We're going tofeel very good.

[00:03:37]Zelensky

You will feel influenced.

[00:03:38]Trump

We're goingtofeel very good and very strong.

[00:03:40]Zelensky

You willfeel influenced.

[00:03:41]Trump

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 about it.

[00:03:48] Zelensky

From the very beginning of the war, Mr

[00:03:50]Trump

You're in a good position. You don't have the cards right now. With us, you start having cards. Right now, you don't have your 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 II. And what you're doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country, that's back to you. Far more than a lot of people said they should have.

[00:04:17]Vance

Have you said thank you once this entire meeting? No, in this entire meeting, have you said thank you? You went to Pennsylvania and campaigned for the opposition in October, offer some words of appreciation for the United States of America and the president who's trying to save your country.

[00:04:35]Zelensky

Please, you think that if you will speak very loudly about the war, you can...

[00:04:39]Trump

He's not speaking loudly. He's not speak loudly. Your country is in big trouble.

[00:04:44]Zelensky

Can I ask, sir?

[00:04:44]Trump

No, no. You've done a lot of talking. Your country is big trouble.

[00:04:48]Zelensky

I know.

[00:04:49]Trump

You're not winning. You're not wining this. You have a damn good chance of coming out okay because of us.

[00:04:54]Zelensky

Mr. President, we are staying in our country, staying strong from the very beginning of the war. We've been alone, and we are thankful. I said thanks in this Cabinet and not only in this Cabinet

[00:05:04]Trump

We gave you, through this stupid president, $350 billion. We gave you military equipment. And you men are brave, but they had to use our military. If you didn't have our military equipment, if you didn't our military equipment This war would have been over in two weeks.

[00:05:23]Zelensky

In three days. I heard it from Putin. In three days, this is something new.

[00:05:27]Trump

Maybe less.

[00:05:27]Zelensky

In two weeks. Of course, yes.

[00:05:29]Trump

It's going to be a very hard thing to do business like this.

[00:05:32]Vance

You say thank you, except that there are disagreements, and let's go litigate those disagreements rather than trying to fight it out in the American media when you're wrong. We know that you're wrong." 

[00:05:46]Trump

But, you see, I think it's good for the American people to see what's going I think it's very important. That's why I kept this going so long. You have to be thankful. You don't have the cards.

[00:05:56]Zelensky

I'm thankful.

[00:05:57]Trump

You're buried there. Your people are dying. I tell you again. You're running low on soldiers. I know. Don't, don't, You're running low on soldiers. It would be a damn good thing. Then you tell us, I don't want to cease fire. I don't wanna cease fire. I wanna go, and I wanted this. If you could get a ceasefire right now, I tell you, you'd take it so the bullets stop flying and your men stop getting killed.

[00:06:19]Zelensky

Of course we want to stop the war.

[00:06:21]Trump

But you're saying you don't want a ceasefire.

[00:06:22]Zelensky

But I said to you with

[00:06:23]Trump

I want a cease fire because you'll get a cease fire faster than an agreement.

[00:06:27]Zelensky

Ask our people about ceasefire, what they think.

[00:06:30]Trump

That wasn't with me

[00:06:30]Zelensky

It doesn't matter for you what this means.

[00:06:33]Trump

That was with a guy named Biden who was not a smart person. That was with Obama.

[00:06:39]Zelensky

It was your president.

[00:06:40]Trump

Excuse me. That was with Obama who gave you sheets and I gave you javelins. Yes. I gave you the javelins to take out all those tanks. Obama gave you sheets. In fact, the statement is Obama gave sheets and Trump gave javelins You got to be more thankful, because let me tell you, you don't have the cards. With us, you have the cards, but without us, you don' t have any cards.

[00:07:04]Journalist

Caitlin, I do want to, because there were a lot of things that were just not true, aside from just the tone and tenor and the monumental historic, not in a good way, historic event that we just saw in the Oval Office. Caitlin, it really did seem to devolve when the Vice President said to Zelensky, we just want diplomacy. And what Zelensky was trying to do was say, we had that. We had a deal with Russia. We had an agreement, the Minsk Agreement. And Russia didn't abide by it. So I want some guarantees that that won't happen again. And then it devolved in a way that is really, really remarkable. The screaming, I mean, you have been with Donald Trump a lot. We have seen and heard about Trump getting upset and losing his temper. I think this is probably the first time we have seen it like this on camera.

[00:08:05]Journalist

We all should say, Caitlin, that... Let's just be clear. I'm not saying that there wasn't genuine anger here But he understands when the television cameras are there, as does J.D. Vance, and we can't lose sight of the performance aspect of this.

[00:08:23]Journalist 2

It was incredibly genuine, though. I mean, J.D. Vance said that this shouldn't be litigated in front of the press. Trump said, actually, no, it should be. I'm glad that this is happening. And, you know, the way that this built, just to give context of the 40 minutes that happened before what you just watched, the most remarkable part of this interaction was there were moments where President Zelensky would do what we saw the other European leaders do this week, where they step in to to correct either on aid to Ukraine or to talk about Putin and the fact that he can't be trusted. At one point, Zelensky called him a killer and saying that there should be no compromises with him. And the U.S. officials were sitting there just kind of listening to this. And it was at that point, though, where Vice President Vance stepped in. Trump was silent at the beginning of that. And then Trump also got involved. And then they were just essentially yelling at one another in this and with Trump all of his diplomacy we know is personal that's why the world leaders who have come here this week have tried to flatter him to essentially get what they want when it comes to negotiating the end of this and that was not what we just saw the tact that Zelensky took care he was as a lens key typically is straightforward in his opinions and what is the reality on the ground it was kind of chastising uh president vice president vance for not having come to ukraine and at one point earlier when trump was asked if he would go to ukraine zielinski was saying that was what he was going to ask trump as well he's been very uh he's emphasized a lot that he thinks these u.s officials need to be there. But to give you a sense of how this negotiation is going right now they are meeting behind closed doors they're supposed to come out for a conference any minute now, and that's where they're signing that minerals agreement that they've been touting as a big first step here. There are real questions about what this looks like going forward, because you heard what President Trump said to me there at the end. I asked, can the two of you still go in a room and negotiate after what just happened? And he said, we'll see, essentially.

[00:10:07]Journalist 2

And, Dana, there was one moment where I looked around the room at the officials who were there it's the top ukrainian advisors the secretary of state to president trump the treasury secretary vice president vance obviously the ukrainian ambassador to the united states had her head buried in her hands as this shouting match was going on between the three of them

[00:10:25]Journalist

yes i saw you put that on social media. It is one of the many. There you go. We're putting it up on the screen now. That is the Ukrainian ambassador, as you said. And she, I mean, talk about her worst nightmare. She was literally watching it unfold before her eyes in the Oval Office.

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