Vice President JD Vance gave Fox News’ Sean Hannity his perspective of the blow-up at the White House between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that made international headlines, saying he tried to “diffuse” tensions.
Trump and Zelenskyy argued with each other about how to end the war between Ukraine and Russia, which Russia started by invading Ukraine three years ago, in an extraordinary televised Oval Office meeting last Friday. Vance repeatedly chimed in to chastise the Ukrainian president as well.
“You’re either going to make a deal or we’re out,” Trump said during the meeting in front of press. “And if we’re out, you’ll fight it out and I don’t think it’s going to be pretty.”
Vance joined with Trump in calling Zelenskyy “disrespectful” for “litigating” the dispute in front of the media and for not being more “thankful” to them.
“Have you said thank you once this entire meeting?” Vance asked Zelenskyy.
“Great TV, as the president said,” Vance said with a laugh in an exclusive interview on “Hannity” that aired Monday night, when asked about his perspective of the meeting. “What I tried to do originally was actually try to diffuse the situation a little bit.”
“I’m like, you know, we’re having this meeting. Obviously, there are 100 television cameras here. Let’s try to have this conversation in private,” Vance continued. “As we kept on going back and forth, I tried again to say, well, maybe we should have this conversation in private. And the president was like, nope, actually, I don’t want to have it in private anymore. I want to have this actual conversation in public for the American people to see.”
“I do think that there was just a certain sense of, there was a lack of respect, there was a certain sense of entitlement,” the vice president said regarding Zelenskyy.
Vance said Trump’s goal for the administration regarding the conflict is getting “the killing to stop.” The vice president said both Zelenskyy and Russia’s Vladimir Putin need to come to the negotiating table.
“That’s ultimately where things broke apart. I really don’t care what President Zelenskyy says about me or anybody else, but he showed a clear unwillingness to engage in the peace process that President Trump has said is the policy of the American people and of their president,” Vance said. “That’s the real breakdown, is I think Zelenskyy wasn’t yet there, and I think, frankly, now still isn’t there, but I think he’ll get there eventually. He has to.”
“I would like to reiterate Ukraine’s commitment to peace,” Zelenskyy posted on X on Tuesday. “None of us wants an endless war. Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer. Nobody wants peace more than Ukrainians. My team and I stand ready to work under President Trump’s strong leadership to get a peace that lasts.”
