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Oval Office Meeting Ends With Tense Exchange Between, Trump, Zelenskyy. Aired 12:30-1p ET
Aired February 28, 2025 - 12:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:33:05]
DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. I want to go right to our Chief White House Correspondent, Kaitlan Collins. Kaitlan, as I come to you, I want to show our viewers the photo that you tweeted that you took in the Oval Office.
And, wow, does that show the tension that clearly erupted in that meeting. This is a moment and not the moment that Zelenskyy or any of the European leaders had hoped for with this meeting. What happened?
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Dana, that picture is not even the half of it. What just happened in the Oval Office is nothing short of remarkable. It began with questions about a ceasefire in Ukraine and security guarantees and what the United States would be willing to do.
And it ended with an outright shouting match between President Zelenskyy, President Trump and Vice President JD Vance. It was incredibly heated. And by the end of it, President Trump was absolutely fuming, saying he wasn't quite sure how these negotiations were going to look going forward.
Vice President Vance was accusing President Zelenskyy of never saying thank you for the United States aid that has gone to Ukraine, saying that he had not said thank you once during that meeting that they were holding.
President Zelenskyy pushed back, was telling Vance that he should come to Ukraine and come and visit. And then President Trump himself got involved as well. And I just want to read you some of the quotes because everyone in the room was silent.
No one was asking questions, listening as the three of them went back and forth, where President Trump was saying it was going to be very tough to negotiate going forward. He said that Putin may have broken deals with President Obama and President Bush, but that he had not broken any deals with President Trump. And that is why Trump was saying that he was confident that if they do come to a ceasefire, that Russia will not violate it. And Trump said at one point, and I'm quoting now from my notes that I took to Zelenskyy, "I have empowered you to be a tough guy. You either make a deal or we are out". He said, "You don't have the cards".
It was nothing short of just remarkable, Dana, to see them going back and forth, yelling at each other inside the Oval Office in a moment that I'm not sure I've ever witnessed in my eight years covering the White House, where this -- essentially going into this, they were hoping that they could find some agreement.
[12:35:09]
Obviously, tensions had been high between them after Trump said that Zelenskyy was a dictator without borders, after Zelenskyy accused him of living in a disinformation bubble after he was suggesting that it was Ukraine that started this war.
BASH: Kaitlan, I do want to ask about the JD Vance of it all. And it sounds from your reporting and from the notes that we're seeing from others in the pool that it was relatively normal, if you will, until JD Vance got in there. And first of all, tell me if that is accurate, because you were there.
And if so, what you make of that, considering the fact that JD Vance, you know, since he was elected to the U.S. Senate, has been very clear that he does not believe that the U.S. needs to be as involved as it is in Ukraine.
COLLINS: Yes. Here's how it happened. And you'll watch all of this play out --
BASH: Yes.
COLLINS: -- and be able to see it for yourself. But Vice President Vance was sitting there the whole time. Obviously, typically, the interactions are just between the world leaders and the heads of state. But as President Zelenskyy kept also interjecting to answer questions at point -- at one point, he was answering my question about security guarantees from the U.S.
Trump was saying he doesn't feel that that's important to get to an agreement. Zelenskyy said he did. And then at one point, Trump was saying that he trusted Putin. And Zelenskyy was kind of shaking his head that he wouldn't violate an agreement.
And Zelenskyy pointed out that Putin had gone into Crimea and illegally annexed it in 2014. And that was still something that happened when Trump was in office the last time. It happened under Obama, to be clear, but nothing changed.
It wasn't given back to Ukraine when Trump was in office in his first term. That's where Vice President Vance asked to speak up. And essentially, he was saying that for four years that President Biden talked tough about President Putin and it did not change the outcome of this war. Russia still invaded and obviously never withdrew its troops. And he was arguing that Trump can make a difference and that Trump's tactic that he's taking where he's not speaking critically of Putin is one that they believe that will work. And that is where then President Zelenskyy started getting involved.
And the two of them were initially just going back and forth as President Trump was kind of listening to it. It's a remarkable moment, Dana, and it raises real questions about what this meeting behind the scenes is going to achieve.
BASH: All right, Kaitlan, I'm being told that we do have the tape and we're waiting for it to start. So I'm going to keep talking until we get it. But you're seeing on your screen an image that, as Kaitlan described, who was in the Oval Office, was really intense. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's your message for them?
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, if I didn't align myself with both of them, you'd never have a deal. You want me to say really terrible things about Putin and then say, hi, Vladimir, how are we doing on the deal? That doesn't work that way.
I'm not aligned with Putin. I'm not aligned with anybody. I'm aligned with the United States of America. And for the good of the world, I'm aligned with the world. And I want to get this thing over with.
You see the hatred he's got for Putin. It's very tough for me to make a deal with that kind of hate. He's got tremendous hatred. And I understand that. But I can tell you the other side isn't exactly in love with, you know, him either.
So it's not a question of alignment. I have -- I'm aligned with the world. I want to get the thing set. I'm aligned with Europe. I want to see if we can get this thing done. You want me to be tough? I could be tougher than any human being you've ever seen.
I'd be so tough. But you're never going to get a deal that way. So that's the way it goes.
One more question.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President --
JD VANCE (R), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I will respond to this. So look, for four years, 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' actions. What makes America a good country is America engaging in diplomacy, that's what President Trump is doing.
PRES. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINE: Can I ask you?
VANCE: Sure.
ZELENSKYY: Yes?
VANCE: Yes.
ZELENSKYY: OK. So he occupied our parts, big parts of Ukraine, parts of East and Crimea. So he occupied it on 2014. So 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 --
TRUMP: 2015.
ZELENSKYY: 2014.
VANCE (?): 2014 to 2015.
TRUMP: But 2014 --
ZELENSKYY: Yes, yes. So --
TRUMP: I was not here.
ZELENSKYY: Yes, but --
VANCE: That's exactly right.
[12:40:02]
ZELENSKYY: Yes, but during 2014 until 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 conversation -- 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 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, JD, you are speaking about? What do you mean?
VANCE: I'm talking about the kind of diplomacy that's going to end the destruction of your country.
ZELENSKYY: Yes, but --
VANCE: 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 --
ZELENSKYY: Have you ever been to Ukraine that you say what problems we have?
VANCE: I have been to --
ZELENSKYY: You come once.
VANCE: I have actually -- 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?
ZELENSKYY: We have problems --
VANCE: And do you think that it's disrespectful 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?
ZELENSKYY: A lot of questions. Let's start from the beginning.
VANCE: 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.
TRUMP: You don't know that.
ZELENSKYY: God bless. God bless.
TRUMP: You don't know that.
ZELENSKYY: You will not have a war.
TRUMP: 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.
ZELENSKYY: I'm not telling you. I'm answering on this question.
TRUMP: Because you're in no position to dictate that. Remember this --
VANCE: That's exactly what you're doing.
ZELENSKYY: Remember this, you're --
TRUMP: You're in no position to dictate what we're going to feel. We're going to feel very good.
ZELENSKYY: You will feel influence. TRUMP: We're going to feel very good and very strong.
ZELENSKYY: You will feel influence.
TRUMP: You're right now not in a very good position. You've allowed yourself to be in a very bad position, and it happens to be right about it.
ZELENSKYY: From the very beginning of the war --
TRUMP: You're not in a good position. You don't have the cards right now. With us, you start having cards.
ZELENSKYY: I'm not playing cards.
TRUMP: Right now, you don't have your playing cards.
ZELENSKYY: I'm very serious, Mr. President. I'm very serious.
TRUMP: You're playing cards. You're gambling with the lives of millions of people.
ZELENSKYY: You're seeing --
TRUMP: You're gambling with World War III.
ZELENSKYY: What you're speaking about --
TRUMP: You're gambling with World War III. And what you're doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country.
ZELENSKYY: I'm really respect your --
TRUMP: That's backed you far more than a lot of people said they should have.
VANCE: Have you said thank you once this entire meeting?
ZELENSKYY: A lot of time.
VANCE: No. In this entire meeting, have you said thank you?
ZELENSKYY: Even today.
VANCE: You went to Pennsylvania and campaigned for the opposition in October. Offer some words of appreciation for the United States of America --
ZELENSKYY: What are you talking about?
VANCE: And the president who's trying to save your country.
ZELENSKYY: Please. You think that if you will speak very loudly about the war, you can --
TRUMP: He's not speaking loudly. He's not speaking loudly. Your country is in big trouble.
ZELENSKYY: Can I answer?
TRUMP: Wait a minute. No, no.
ZELENSKYY: Can I answer.
TRUMP: You've done a lot of talking. Your country is in big trouble.
ZELENSKYY: I know.
TRUMP: You're not winning.
ZELENSKYY: I know.
TRUMP: You're not winning this.
ZELENSKYY: I --
TRUMP: You have a damn good chance of coming out --
ZELENSKYY: We are staying --
TRUMP: -- 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 --
TRUMP: You haven't been alone.
ZELENSKYY: -- in this Cabinet and not only in this Cabinet.
TRUMP: We gave you, through this stupid president, $350 billion.
ZELENSKYY: You voted for your president.
TRUMP: We gave you military equipment --
ZELENSKYY: You voted for your president.
TRUMP: -- and you men are brave, but they had to use our military.
ZELENSKYY: Yes. What about me asking --
TRUMP: If you didn't have our military equipment --
ZELENSKYY: You invited me to speak --
TRUMP: If you didn't have our military equipment, this war would have been over in two weeks, OK?
ZELENSKYY: In three days, I heard it from Putin. In three days. This is something --
TRUMP: Maybe less. ZELENSKYY: In two weeks. Of course, yes.
TRUMP: It's going to be a very hard thing to do business like this. I tell you.
VANCE: You say thank you --
ZELENSKYY: I said it a lot of time thank you --
VANCE: -- except that there --
ZELENSKYY: -- to American people.
VANCE: -- 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.
TRUMP: But you see, I think it's good for the American people to see what's going on.
VANCE: I understand, sir.
TRUMP: 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.
ZELENSKYY: I'm thankful.
TRUMP: You're buried there. You have -- people are dying.
ZELENSKYY: I can tell you --
TRUMP: You're running low on soldiers.
ZELENSKYY: Don't --
TRUMP: Listen.
ZELENSKYY: Please, Mr. President.
TRUMP: You're running low on soldiers. It would be a damn good thing --
ZELENSKYY: Mr. President --
TRUMP: Then you tell us, I don't want a ceasefire. I don't want a ceasefire. I want to go, and I wanted this. Look, if you could get a ceasefire right now, I'd tell you, you take it so the bullet stop flying, and your men stop getting killed.
[12:45:01]
ZELENSKYY: Yes. Of course we want to stop the war. But I --
TRUMP: But you're saying you don't want a ceasefire?
ZELENSKYY: But I said to you -- TRUMP: I want a ceasefire.
ZELENSKYY: -- with guarantees.
TRUMP: Because you'll get a ceasefire faster than any agreement.
ZELENSKYY: Ask our people about ceasefire, what they think.
TRUMP: That wasn't with me --
ZELENSKYY: It doesn't matter for you what --
TRUMP: That wasn't with me. That was with a guy named Biden, who was not a smart person.
ZELENSKYY: This is your --
TRUMP: That was with Obama.
ZELENSKYY: It was your president.
TRUMP: Excuse me. That was with Obama, who gave you sheets, and I gave you javelins.
ZELENSKYY: Yes.
TRUMP: 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.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One more question, Mr. Vice President. I'm sorry --
TRUMP: It will be a tough deal to make because the attitudes have to change.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What if Russia breaks ceasefire? What if Russia breaks these talks? What will you do then? I understand that it's a heated conversation right now but --
TRUMP: What are you saying?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What if Russia --
VANCE: She's asking, what if Russia breaks the ceasefire?
TRUMP: What if they -- what if anything? What if a bomb drops on your head right now?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But they have --
TRUMP: OK? What if they broke it? I don't know. They broke it with Biden. Because Biden, they didn't respect him. They didn't respect Obama. They respect me. Let me tell you, Putin went through a hell of a lot with me. He went through a phony witch hunt where they used him and Russia. Russia, Russia, Russia. You ever hear of that deal? That was a phony Hunter Biden, Joe Biden scam. Hillary Clinton, shifty Adam Schiff. It was a Democrat scam.
And he had to go through that. And he did go through it. We didn't end up in a war. And he went through it. He was accused of all that stuff. He had nothing to do with it.
It came out of Hunter Biden's bathroom. It came out of Hunter Biden's bedroom. It was disgusting. And then they said, oh, oh, the laptop from hell was made by Russia, the 51 agents. The whole thing was a scam.
And he had to put up with that. He was being accused of all that stuff. All I can say is this, he might have broken deals with Obama and Bush, and he might have broken them with Biden. He did, maybe. Maybe he didn't. I don't know what happened.
But he didn't break them with me. He wants to make a deal. I don't know if he can make a deal. The problem is, I've empowered you to be a tough guy. And I don't think you'd be a tough guy without the United States. And your people are very brave.
ZELENSKYY: Thank you.
TRUMP: But you're either going to make a deal or we're out. And if we're out, you'll fight it out. I don't think it's going to be pretty. But you'll fight it out.
But you don't have the cards. But once we sign that deal, you're in a much better position. But you're not acting at all thankful. And that's not a nice thing. I'll be honest. That's not a nice thing.
All right. I think we've seen enough. What do you think, huh?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is negotiation --
TRUMP: This is going to be great television. I will say that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, guys. Thank you all.
TRUMP: All right. We'll see what we can do about putting it together.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Guys, come on. Let's go.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) given that?
TRUMP: We'll see. I don't know.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, guys. Guys, come on.
(CROSSTALK) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Guys, come on.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Smoothly.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
BASH: Wow. Just wow. That was something.
I want to go straight to our Chief White House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins, who was in the Oval Office, as we heard before we saw the tape. And CNN Chief International Anchor Christiane Amanpour.
Kaitlan, I want to start with -- look at her face. I mean, Christiane, hold that thought for one -- OK. Actually, Christiane, please take it away.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Never in the history of modern diplomacy, war, peace, whatever, have I ever, ever, ever seen anything like it. We just have to hope that for the safety of the free world and for the American people, for the European people, for the Ukrainian people, that these two presidents get out of the threat and try to iron out their differences.
This was an entirely personal go-to with so many mistruths and misfacts --
BASH: Right.
AMANPOUR: JD Vance, who once said about Ukraine, I don't really care about whatever happens to Ukraine. There's Zelenskyy who spent a long time (technical difficulty).
BASH: Christiane --
AMANPOUR: It's impossible to understand what's going to happen next. The only person we hear from this is President Putin.
BASH: Yes.
AMANPOUR: And beyond that (technical difficulty).
[12:50:02]
BASH: Yes, Christiane, your audio is breaking up a little bit. What we definitely got the gist of what you were saying.
And, Kaitlan, 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.
Kaitlan, it really did seem to devolve when the vice president said to Zelenskyy, we just want diplomacy. And what Zelenskyy 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. We all should say --
COLLINS: Well --
BASH: -- Kaitlan, 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 JD Vance, and we can't lose sight of the performance aspect of this.
COLLINS: It was incredibly genuine, though. I mean, JD 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 Zelenskyy would do what we saw the other European leaders do this week where they step in to correct either on aid to Ukraine or to talk about Putin and the fact that he can't be trusted.
At one point, Zelenskyy 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 tack that Zelenskyy took here.
BASH: Yes.
COLLINS: He was, as Zelenskyy typically is, straightforward in his opinions, and what is the reality on the ground. It was kind of chastising 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, Zelenskyy was saying that was what he was going to ask Trump as well.
He's been very -- 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 press conference any minute now, and that's where they're signing that minerals agreement --
BASH: Yes.
COLLINS: -- 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.
And Dana, there was one moment where I looked around the room with the officials who were there. It's the top Ukrainian advisers, the Secretary of State to President Trump, the Treasury Secretary, Vice President Vance, obviously.
The Ukrainian ambassador to the United States --
BASH: Yes.
COLLINS: -- had her head buried in her hands --
BASH: Yes.
COLLINS: -- as this shouting match was going on between the three of them.
BASH: 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 of the White House.
David Chalian, I want to go to you because so much of the kind of pre- game, if you will, the discussion before this event today was people who were trying to get these two officials to a yes and to a place where they could have a good working relationship and a good conversation.
We're trying to explain to Zelenskyy in particular, David, this is the way to approach it. This is a way to kind of play it right for Donald Trump. I got a text from a senator who was in the earlier meeting on Capitol Hill with the Ukrainian president, and this senator said he did everything wrong.
And I'm not to say, David, that what he said wasn't accurate, just in terms of the strategy, if you're trying to appeal to and appease Donald Trump.
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF: Right, I mean, Zelenskyy was coming here, obviously, to give Trump a win, if you will, but an agreement here, it's something that Trump had been talking about forever. And by the way, did you not see yesterday, Dana, and we talked about this, that Donald Trump sort of was changing his --
BASH: Exactly.
CHALIAN: -- tone a little bit. I mean, it was only a week ago, 10 days ago, he was calling Zelenskyy a dictator and saying that Ukraine was at fault for the start of the war, obviously, that doesn't comport with the facts.
[12:55:09]
And then you heard a totally different tone from him yesterday, looking forward to this meeting at 11:00, it'll be a good meeting, because he was anticipating the win. And of course, what does Zelenskyy get of that? I mean, he's hoping to get security guarantees, that obviously seems very much not a certain thing from the United States.
But he was really hoping to keep the trains on track here for -- as Starmer, the U.K. Prime Minister was saying yesterday, any kind of deal with Russia that brings us to a resolution, one that actually sticks.
BASH: Yes.
CHALIAN: And that's what Zelenskyy was looking for here. And what you just saw here was so much pent up, personal frustration and narrative. Through the last five or six years of this relationship now, back and forth, you just saw it spill out publicly.
And I think that the American people see here, obviously, there will be a lot of people in Donald Trump's quarter who will love this moment --
BASH: Exactly.
CHALIAN: -- of him getting combative. And obviously, JD Vance, I think you saw sort of coaching a moment, the president to get to this place, right? Like he was leading this conversation there.
BASH: Absolutely.
CHALIAN: But there will be a whole swath of Americans, some of whom voted for Donald Trump, who will find this very uncomfortable. And that may include, not publicly, but privately, as you know, some Republican allies --
BASH: Yes.
CHALIAN: -- of the president on Capitol Hill.
BASH: Yes, Nick Paton Walsh, you are in Ukraine, your reaction and what you're hearing there.
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: I mean, there's palpable fear, I think, amongst many Ukrainians watching that, the outcome they were hoping from this meeting, that they could get back to six weeks ago where the U.S. was their partner, that seems to have dissolved. I can't say evaporated, because we don't know the consequence of this.
But the acrimony there on display, I think it really began when we saw JD Vance intervene in parts of that conversation. But I mean, the way that Donald Trump mimicked President Zelenskyy saying, I don't want a ceasefire, you could tell there's a lot of frustration built up amongst the American side there.
JD Vance stepping in and saying, you're forcing conscripts to the front line. Well, at times there are recruitment here that is not entirely voluntary. But it's an extraordinary collapse there of what people had hoped would be their relationship getting back on track.
Zelenskyy feeling the obligation to correct falsehoods, perhaps mistaking the friendly way in which Emmanuel Macron and Keir Starmer seemed to do that. Something he could replicate, perhaps misreading part of the room there.
But you've got to understand too where this is for Ukrainians. This is a matter of life and death where they've lost friends. And so Zelenskyy's emotions there, I think portraying the frustration of a nation here, frankly, who don't like the way in which their conflict is misrepresented and answering back.
But ultimately, the way they shout each other down, and it was said to Zelenskyy that he was not being thankful enough, that is exceptionally damaging for this relationship. And I think it leaves many people here very concerned about where this war goes next.
BASH: Yes. Thank you so much, Nick.
And Susan Glasser, David Chalian said the hope was to keep the train on tracks. I mean, this was a head-on collision.
SUSAN GLASSER, STAFF WRITER, THE NEW YORKER: That's exactly right. It had the feelings at times, Dana, of an ambush where you had the vice president of the United States and the president of the United States both going after President Zelenskyy at points in that confrontation. In many ways, it seemed as though, you know, Vladimir Putin's work was being done for him.
And I just think the big picture here is to understand the shock and horror of Ukraine to see the country that was its biggest ally and supporter in the space of weeks essentially change the foreign policy of the United States and of the West.
And you had Trump and Vance amplifying Russian lies about the invasion. You had Donald Trump in that confrontation saying that, you know, he trusts Vladimir Putin. You had him saying lies about the Russian intervention in our elections back in 2016. This is the level of grievance going forward.
But what's happened in the last week, it's hard for us to process, I think. The United States, Donald Trump, has switched sides in the war. And I think that is the backdrop for this confrontation that we just saw.
BASH: And Alex, they are popping the champagne in Moscow. They're -- they've got their best vodka out and they're doing shots as we speak. There's no question.
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: I mean, that's exactly the same thought that went through my head. They are grinning from ear to ear. They look like the calmer, more mature partner right now. I mean, Zelenskyy walked into a buzzsaw.
He knew that he was going to face a hostile president and vice president, clearly. And he clearly couldn't hold back when some of these statements were made and these untruths were put in front of him. It is just an extraordinary moment.
We were going to be talking here about his deal that was a win-win for both sides, questions about the security guarantees. All this appears to be evaporating. It's just an extraordinary moment.
BASH: Well, we do know that they've finished this conversation and maybe they're still in the Oval Office. So we don't know how this day is going to end yet. We don't know if they are going to come out and say that they somehow found a way to sign this deal. There is going to be a news conference or at least there was one planned. Let's see if that actually happens.
What an hour, what a moment in history. Thank you so much for joining Inside Politics. Don't go anywhere. CNN News Central is picking up our coverage now.
