Friday’s heated confrontation between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy saw two Florida-bred presidential appointees charged with removing the foreign team from the White House.
National Security Advisor Mike Waltz appeared on Saturday’s “Fox and Friends Weekend,” where he described Zelenskyy’s removal by him and Secretary of State Marco Rubio after the meeting was over.
“We had a meeting after that exchange after the press was asked to leave, and we pretty much unanimously advised the President that after that insult in the Oval Office, we just do not see how that could move forward, that any further engagement would only go backwards from this moment on, and that’s what we walked over and told President Zelenskyy and his team,” Waltz said.
Ahead of the negotiation’s collapse, Zelenskyy engaged in cross talk with Trump and Vice President JD Vance.
“The problem is I’ve empowered you to be a tough guy,” Trump said. “And I don’t think you’d be a tough guy without the United States.”
Trump and Vance said Zelenskyy wasn’t sufficiently grateful for American help.
Based on Friday’s actions, Waltz said he wasn’t sure if Zelenskyy “truly wants to stop the fighting,” which has led Trump “frustrated and angry.”
The drama continued off camera.
As he was being walked out, Waltz said Zelenskyy was still “argumentative,” which led the National Security Adviser to tell him that “time was not on his side.”
The former Congressman from North Florida wasn’t the only man with Sunshine State ties who was unhappy with the Ukrainian leader.
During a CNN appearance Friday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Zelenskyy needed to apologize to President Trump “for turning this thing into the fiasco for him that it became.”
“There was no need for him to go in there and become antagonistic,” the former Senator turned chief diplomat told primetime host Kaitlan Collins.
Rubio also questioned if Zelenskyy wants the fighting to end during Friday’s interview.
“You start to suspect, does he really want an end to this war? Does he just think that we have to do whatever he says and give him anything he wants without any end game?”
Rubio, who sat impassively during the meeting, had worked to engage Ukraine in an exchange of rare earth mineral rights for American security guarantees.
In football terms, it fell short of the goal line Friday. Ahead of the derailed public negotiation, the Secretary of State said it was just a “tush push” away, days after he accused Zelenskyy of lying about the deal for domestic consumption in Ukraine.
On X Saturday, Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s position was a mineral deal was a “first step toward security guarantees.”
“But it’s not enough, and we need more than just that. A ceasefire without security guarantees is dangerous for Ukraine. We’ve been fighting for 3 years, and Ukrainian people need to know that America is on our side,” Zelenskyy claimed.
Post Views: 0