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Trump And Zelensky Cancel Press Conference After Hostile WH Meeting; Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) Discusses Hostile Trump And Zelenskyy Meeting At White House; Zelenskyy Leaves White House Early After Bitter Meeting With Trump & Without Signing Minerals Deal; Trump: Zelenskyy "Can Come Back When He Is Ready For Peace". Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired February 28, 2025 - 13:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[13:30:00]

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: They we're really buttering Trump up to bring him back into the European orbit.

I think, instead, Zelenskyy came into this meeting possibly thinking that a position of strength would be what would leave Trump feeling he couldn't mess him around, a tool, called Putin a terrorist very early on.

That was a very stark choice to make, because surely the Ukrainians are aware of how reluctant Donald Trump has been to criticize Vladimir Putin.

And then it seemed to basically disintegrate once J.D. Vance got involved and began saying that it was disrespectful to legislate this discussion in front of the U.S. media.

We are into a very dark moment here because not only do we not know whether U.S. aid continues to come after this moment, and there have been concerns that it could be cut off entirely, immediately frozen in the event of something as catastrophic as that.

The impact of that on the front lines will be felt immediately, I think, not necessarily in morale, because there are signs of many people saying, you know, well, we didn't like how Trump was treating Ukraine. and so our president has stood up for us. You hear that, certainly.

But there's a practical impact, if the aid slows, if the future of the western backing for Ukraine becomes more in doubt -- we are already seeing recruitment problems talked about initially because of that.

But then you might have morale issues. You have the fact that the Russians will be seeing this, and perhaps seeing now is a moment to increase pressure. We don't know.

Do ceasefire talks continue? Do peace talks continue? Does the Kremlin get back now into Trump's ear and drag him geopolitically back into their orbit, as we saw just a matter of 10 days ago. We've been having whiplash here in Ukraine for two to three weeks, watching this relationship go from a place where, six weeks ago, where it was rock solid.

And, frankly, Ukraine would repeatedly demand things of their Western partners saying they weren't getting enough to try and hold the line here, to the disintegration in the personal relationship between Trump and Zelenskyy.

You knew, from hearing that, that there was something probably lingering from the first term where the Zelenskyy phone call that Trump described as perfect contributed towards his first impeachment proceedings and the feeling that had lingered in the background somehow was there during that personal spat.

The remarkable effect of European leaders on Trump to get into even pretend he had even called Zelenskyy a dictator just yesterday.

And then this moment here, the acrimony I -- watching it, I kind of -- for the Ukrainians we work with and see here, I kind of hoped that this was some sort of performative statement where they could both say they we're defending their positions strongly enough.

Because Trump has always suggested a reluctance to assist Ukraine repeatedly. But it's clear from the early departure of Zelenskyy that this is really crumbling exceptionally fast in front of our eyes.

And I think it's important to remind our viewers now that this is not just about two, three men in an office in front of the cameras, falling out publicly and shouting over each other.

The impact is on the lives of Ukrainians tonight, who will be wondering if there will be enough Patriot missile elements to shoot down the next Russian ballistic missile attack.

Zelenskyy said himself, sometimes he wakes up in the morning and simply doesn't know if there's going to be enough to shoot down the next volley of missiles.

Will they -- I should also share with you, we did a tally of the number of Ukrainian civilians who've died since Trump called Zelenskyy a dictator. That's 47 civilians, 222 injured in a 10-day spell. That doesn't include the hundreds on both sides of the exceptionally vicious front lines that we've been seeing.

But I just encourage people to now look away from this remarkable diplomatic spat or undiplomatic spat, frankly, a remarkable -- I mean, I've never seen anything like this in international politics to devolve into such a televised shouting match that Trump had to say, this is going to be a great TV at the end of it.

There will be an impact that will be immediate here. People will lose their lives as a result. Frontline positions will change. And then there will be questions in the months ahead.

Unless this is radically resolved, somehow, that leave the security of parts of eastern Europe, not just Ukraine, in some doubt, an emboldened Kremlin, possibly.

It'll be interesting to see how fast they choose to exploit this particular moment. And tonight, exceptionally anxious hearts here in Ukraine. Zelenskyy has to go to London next. We just don't know how this rift can get healed.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Yes, certainly, as we await the departure of Volodymyr Zelenskyy from the West Wing. We are going to be watching it live.

We do want to get you some reaction from Moscow. CNN chief global affairs correspondent, Matthew Chance, is standing by with that.

How is this being received there?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean, look, just as, you know, everybody who's watched this did so with astonishment, mouths open, you know, unbelieving of -- of what they were seeing on their screens, I think there's a similar sort of attitude here in Moscow as well. There were perhaps a slightly different spin.

[13:35:00]

I mean, the Russian officials that I've spoken to over the course of the past, what, half an hour or so since this -- this incredible, you know, spectacle unfolded have just said, we've never seen anything like this before. We've never seen, you know, high-level officials talk to each other sort of in this way.

And obviously there's this criticism of -- of -- of Zelenskyy and his role in that. The Kremlin, I've reached out to them, obviously, for, you know, some kind of public reaction. They haven't given one.

They're not commenting at the moment. Why would they? They can just sit back and watch this unfold in front of them without them doing anything at all.

But there has been one social media post on X from Kirill Dmitriev, who's the head of the Russian Sovereign Wealth Fund. He's also one of the sort of presidential Kremlin envoys that's taken part in the high- level negotiations between Russia and the United States a couple of weeks ago in Saudi Arabia.

And he posted the full video of the exchange between President Trump, Vice President Vance and President Zelenskyy of Ukraine, just with the word "historic." Historic is -- is -- is the word that he's used to describe this.

And I think it gives a sense of how officials and those in the corridors of power here in Russia are viewing this astonishing about turn on the part of the White House when it comes to its foreign policy.

Just six weeks ago, or was it even less than that, before President Trump was inaugurated, Washington was a steadfast ally and military supporter of the Ukrainian armed forces, and the Ukrainian battle against -- against Russia.

That now appears to have completely changed, completely been thrown out. And "historic" is the word that Kirill Dmitriev is using to describe that that argument, essentially that slanging match that we just saw between these -- these leaders from the United States and Ukraine.

SANCHEZ: Yes. History unfolding before our eyes with the implications for Ukraine and Europe and the world up for -- at stake, I should say.

We're continuing to watch the exterior of the West Wing there. A vehicle ready to grab Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as he is anticipated to exit.

We're joined now by Massachusetts congressman and member of the Armed Services Committee, Seth Moulton.

Congressman, thanks so much for being with us.

First, your reaction to --

REP. SETH MOULTON (D-MA): Good to be here.

SANCHEZ: -- this deal being off to this Oval Office meeting that we watched unfold as dramatically as it did and to the press conference now being canceled and the future of Ukraine in question.

MOULTON: Well, look, I've just been sitting here listening to these British guys ramble on and on about this.

Let's just cut to the chase. The president of the United States is a coward who is Vladimir Putin's puppet? And the vice president of the United States is a Pogue and a coward who is Donald Trump's puppet.

And so what we just witnessed was a meeting in the Oval Office between two cowardly puppets and a hero.

And whether you voted for these puppets or not, just as an American, as a fellow American, it's just embarrassing that the only hero in the Oval Office, the only decent human being, for that matter, is the Ukrainian.

I mean, this administration is going to go down as an embarrassment to American history.

SANCHEZ: Congressman, I wonder if you think that President Zelenskyy could have handled it differently, the way that some of his European counterparts, Emmanuel Macron and Keir Starmer, did, and perhaps been more deferential to Trump and Vance.

MOULTON: Deferential to what? Deferential to a president who allowed a deal in his first term to crumble because Putin just violated it? Deferential to -- to a vice president who didn't even bother to visit Ukraine?

I hardly know anyone in -- in Congress, who has any view on national security, who hasn't been to Ukraine during this war.

Deferential to a draft dodger, who's our commander-in-chief? Zelenskyy doesn't deserve to be deferential to anyone in that Oval Office. In fact, I kind of wish he'd put them in their place a little bit stronger.

I mean, this is just truly, truly embarrassing. And the vast majority, the vast, vast majority of my Republican colleagues in Congress completely agree with me. They know the truth here. They're just too scared to say it themselves.

SANCHEZ: Congressman, I do wonder how you would react to the suggestion by J.D. Vance that there was a lot of chest-thumping and harsh words for Putin in the last administration, but not enough action.

[13:40:04]

Do you think that the Biden administration should have provided Ukraine with stronger weapons sooner in order to prevent where we are right now?

MOULTON: Look, I have been a fair critic of both Democrats and Republicans and a critic of some aspects of how Biden handled this war. And, yes, I think that he should have given them more weapons faster.

But the idea that Vance and Trump, who are literally sucking up to a dictator, who want Putin apparently to win this war, the idea that they would criticize Biden, I mean, that's -- you know, that's real rich. That's real rich.

SANCHEZ: Where do you think this goes from here, Congressman? Do you think U.S. aid to Ukraine is immediately at risk?

MOULTON: Its unquestionably at risk. I mean, everything we stand for, as Americans, the very fundamental value of freedom is at risk with what these two are doing.

But the other risk that we shouldn't ignore, and J.D. Vance brought it up --

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Congressman?

MOULTON: -- is World War III.

SANCHEZ: Congressman, sorry to interrupt you.

We want to listen in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Peel off.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: President Zelenskyy, can you tell us what happened?

SANCHEZ: It was difficult to hear there. President Zelenskyy as he was exiting the White House, clearly yelled at cameras, but it was hard to make out exactly what he was saying.

It appears that he is in that vehicle just outside the West Wing and is set to depart the White House in moments after this explosive afternoon in which we've seen this deal between the United States and Ukraine crumble, and then a shouting match inside the Oval Office.

Congressman, if you want to finish your thoughts as we await Zelenskyy's departure.

MOULTON: Well, I was just saying that, look, the risk that this actually could be a wider war involving NATO is real because Putin is getting emboldened by the president of the United States and by the vice president of the United States.

Because the way this becomes a wider war is for Putin to get the message that he wins, that he can go and invade sovereign countries with impunity and go do it to eastern European NATO allies next.

And that will get American troops killed, not just innocent Europeans. American troops will die if that happens. So what Trump and Vance are doing is absolutely dangerous for our national security, not just dangerous for Ukraine.

SANCHEZ: Democratic Congressman Seth Moulton, we have to leave the conversation there. We appreciate you joining us.

I want to go to the White House now with CNN's Jeff Zeleny, who is watching closely as this vehicle departs.

Jeff, we're you able to make out what Zelenskyy yelled to cameras?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: We were not able to make that out, Boris. We will go back and listen. But it was nothing extraordinary or long.

But what we are seeing here now is President Zelenskyy leaving the White House about two hours and 20 minutes or so after he arrived, without getting a deal and without doing a press conference with President Trump to sign the deal.

You will see right here this motorcade going behind us, as we speak, driving out of the north gates of the White House. What this is, is an extraordinary breakdown in diplomacy. The biggest break and change in foreign policy.

Let's listen right there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: President Zelenskyy, can you tell us what happened?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: So as you could see there -- we were re-racking that tape. I could not make out what President Zelenskyy was saying. But now he has left the grounds of the White House. And indeed, we shall see what -- we shall see what comes from here.

He did stay in the West Wing of the White House for some minutes after President Trump said, come back when it's time for peace. So we do not know if there were any further discussions. We will certainly do our reporting and let you know.

But this moment, this Friday afternoon, the end of a very busy week of diplomacy here has ended in anything but that.

And interestingly, right before President Zelenskyy came to the White House here, he met with a bipartisan group of Senators.

And Republican Senator Roger Wicker, the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, welcomed him. And he said, "We're here to show you our support." That is not how President Zelenskyy leaves this White House.

So certainly, this is a breach in U.S. foreign policy protocol, but also really showing the split inside this Republican Party, the party of Donald Trump and the party of J.D. Vance.

[13:44:59]

We have not seen Vice President Vance really speak up much at all during his opening weeks of his vice presidency. But that moment in the Oval Office, certainly is resonating and reverberating around the world.

But now he is gone. They are breaking down the room where the press conference and deal was scheduled to be announced. And that certainly is not how even President Trump wanted this day here to end.

We shall see if this is a negotiating tactic. We do not know how long President Zelenskyy will stay in town. President Trump clearly does still want to make a deal, but those tensions and fiery exchanges certainly have cut deep.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Certainly have, Jeff.

We saw J.D. Vance there. He ran as President Trump's pit bull, and he was certainly the pit bull today there in the Oval Office.

So just to let our viewers know --

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: Yes, certainly.

So the U.S., at least at present, has abandoned talks with Volodymyr Zelenskyy on these rare earth minerals. That was something they we're going to make a big spectacle of signing a deal on today at the White House. That's done.

They've canceled this joint presser in what appears to be President Trump essentially kicking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy out of the White House early from his visit. And this all comes from what was a 45-minute press availability in the

Oval Office. The last 10 minutes degenerating into an off-the-rails, testy, shouting, almost, match after Zelenskyy warned President Trump to be skeptical of Russia keeping it's word.

J.D. Vance, the vice president, stepping in there and it got brutal.

SANCHEZ: Yes. No question.

And again, the implications here are seismic. With this deal falling through, it leads into question how the United States is poised to support Ukraine going into the future and what aspirations Vladimir Putin might have beyond Ukraine.

A lot to keep track of here. Really a historic afternoon as we've been monitoring these developments from the White House.

We're going to take a quick break. We'll continue the discussion when we come back. Stay with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:51:42]

SANCHEZ: We're following breaking news into CNN. A meeting between Presidents Trump and Zelenskyy has ended horribly --

KEILAR: In spectacular fashion.

SANCHEZ: -- catastrophically.

Yes. After it devolved into a shouting match inside the Oval Office. And now the future of U.S. support for Ukraine is in question.

KEILAR: That's right. So much of what was supposed to happen today is not happening, as Zelenskyy just departed early from the White House before a scheduled press conference, before what was supposed to be this big minerals deal that they we're going to sign with a lot of fanfare.

President Trump writing, quote, "I have determined that President Zelenskyy is not ready for peace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations.

"He disrespected the United States of America and it's cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for peace."

So just to give an idea of how this meeting went, here's a bit of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Your country is in big trouble.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: I know.

TRUMP: You're not winning. ZELENSKYY: No.

TRUMP: You're not winning this. You have a damned good chance of --

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: -- coming out OK because of us.

ZELENSKYY: 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.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: You haven't been --

(CROSSTALK)

ZELENSKYY: -- this cabinet.

TRUMP: -- you in this. We gave you through that stupid president $350 billion.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: We gave you military equipment. You and your men are brave.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: But they had to use our military --

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: If you didn't have our military equipment --

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: If you didn't have our military equipment, this war would have been over in two weeks.

ZELENSKYY: In three days. I heard it from Putin, in three days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Let's bring in CNN chief international anchor, Christiane Amanpour.

Christiane, I understand that you're getting new reaction.

I also, though, want to look at a piece of what Trump said to get your take on it as well, where he said, "I've determined that President Zelenskyy is not ready for peace if America is involved."

Raising the specter of America, pulling out its involvement.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Well, look, he said it himself in the Oval Office. The lines that we're coming out before we even saw the video, before even it degenerated in the way it did.

The president said, you know, you either cut a deal or we're out of here. I mean, that's -- I'm sort of paraphrasing because I'm not reading it right now, but that's what it was.

And, you know, there are many who are saying, you know, this amounted to sort of a gun to your head, make a deal now. Many are talking about how the president has, you know, really basically internalized the Putin talking points.

And much of what he said, you're not winning, you have no cards, you know, you have no leg to stand on, you can't dictate to us this and that, a lot of that is what has been coming from the Kremlin over the last three years of this war, that they are trying to, you know, give the narrative that they will win.

Even President Trump said, "You're gambling with World War III." This is directly falling into the trap of constantly dangling this nuclear saber rattling. Obviously, the Biden administration was concerned about that as well.

But this is what -- what Zelenskyy was trying to say is we're here on our land. We're grateful for the weapons. None of you are fighting here. We're doing it with your weapons, and we're very grateful, and we have held them off.

[13:55:01]

So the whole narrative was -- was demonstrably shown to be upside down in that -- in that White House Oval Office.

The $350 billion that President Trump keeps saying that the U.S. gave is just not the right figure. It's around 100 and so billion dollars. The rest comes from Europe.

And so obviously, this minerals deal is not going to be signed. But now Ukraine has to figure out, is it on its own? And Europe has to figure out, are we going to be able to do what we said we must do? And that is support Ukraine to either a victory or an honorable and just peace.

And of course, if there had been a peace deal or a ceasefire somewhere down the line, they were going to have to police it anyway.

President Trump has made it clear that America is not to be relied on, is not a credible partner in this case, since he came back into office. He's washed his hands of Ukraine, according to his own vice president, who said even a year ago, I don't much care what happens in Ukraine.

And unfortunately, it was the J.D. Vance intervention in that Oval Office that -- that that just set this off. You know, accusing -- accusing Zelenskyy of bringing people to Ukraine for propaganda tours. I mean, honestly, you can't make this stuff up. It was really, really

something that's quite shocked people overseas, not to mention those probably watching in Ukraine and wondering what this means for their fight.

SANCHEZ: Kim Dozier and Jeffrey Edmonds are still with us.

I want to get your thoughts on how Ukraine might move forward without us help. Is that feasible?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, Zelenskyy is literally about to get on a plane to fly to London this weekend where Prime Minister Starmer had already arranged a summit of European leaders. And they will now all be meeting together to try to figure out where they go from here.

Surely, they're not going to completely give up on the White House, but tempers have to cool.

And for the near future, they're going to have to figure out how to keep Ukrainian troops supplied to keep going with an emergency plan of, what if the U.S. pulls out? How are we going to do this?

KEILAR: To that point, though, Trump has shown in the past he will make quick decisions when it comes to, you know, some of the support staff that have built up in the region in response to the war in Ukraine.

I mean, he's very quick to pull the rug out from underneath things. If he wanted to do that tomorrow, he could.

JEFFREY EDMONDS, FORMER DIRECTOR FOR RUSSIA, NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: That's right. I mean, he talks about playing cards. The only cards -- if Trump wants a meaningful peace in Ukraine, the only cards he has are U.S. and European military and economic aid to Ukraine. There's no deal to be had here.

And when he talks about Zelenskyy not being ready for peace, what he's really saying is Zelenskyy isn't ready to surrender yet.

But to your point, Ukraine has a vote, right? There's -- there's there are steps Ukraine can take.

The vice president was actually incorrect in what he said earlier. Ukraine has been rather constrained in sending young men to the front lines. And one of the criticisms has been you need to do that if you want to fight, if you really want to, you know, beat the Russians back.

KEILAR: Talk about that a little more.

EDMONDS: Well, for a long time, the -- the recruitment age was around 25, or the conscription age was around 25. And there was the argument that you really need to reduce -- as horrible as it is, you need to -- to dig deeper into your population on the front lines. And they have started making changes that make the frontline units

more effective. And so they can continue to resist Russian aggression but it's going to become increasingly more difficult to do that without U.S. aid.

SANCHEZ: Thank you both for the perspective.

We're going to take a quick break. We're back in just moments. Don't go anywhere.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)