Vice President JD Vance opened up on Monday night about the tense Oval Office meeting last week between himself, President Donald Trump, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
In an interview with Sean Hannity that aired on Monday night, Vance insisted he was trying to ease the tension.
Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in February 2022, and Trump has said he is trying to end the war there. The action was ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who wanted to get rid of Zelensky and make Ukraine less militarized. Putin’s country has lost the war, but it still controls large parts of eastern Ukraine.
What did Vance say during the meeting to show that the White House was sure Putin would keep his word if he agreed to a peace deal? Vance accused Zelensky of being “disrespectful” after some back and forth. Things got worse when Trump piled on and told his opponent, “You’re gambling with World War III!”
Below is a transcript of the exchange:
Hannity: “Let’s go back to the Oval Office Friday, from your perspective?”
Vance: “Yeah, great TV, as the president said.”
Hannity: “Yeah.”
Vance: “It was — well, you know, it’s funny. So, we have a 40, 45-minute press conference, and the president normally does this, and I’ve seen this now 3 or 4 times with foreign leaders, where he likes to bring the media in, likes to have a conversation, but answer questions with the press. As you know, he’s very open with reporters. And what I noticed is that for the first 25, 30 or so minutes, he tried to sort of bend over backwards to be gracious and kind to Zelenskyy. Even when Zelenskyy was kind of needling him, even when Zelenskyy was saying things that I thought were untrue, the president just tried to be diplomatic. Right? I think that’s his natural instinct in that situation. And then when it really went off the rails, of course, is when I asked — or you had a Polish journalist who asked a question, the president answered it, and then I answered it. And then something about my answer just really sets Zelenskyy off, so then he came at me.”
Hannity: “So you’re blaming yourself?”
Vance: “(Laughs) Then I went back at him. And what I tried to do originally was actually try to diffuse the situation a little bit because 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. And then the president, 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.’ And I do think that there was just a certain sense of there was a lack of respect, there was a certain sense of entitlement. And most importantly, look, we can look past all that stuff. But the president has set a very clear goal for his administration. He wants the killing to stop. And I think that it’s very important that President Zelenskyy and, of course, President Putin too, they’ve both got to come to the negotiating table. And 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. 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.”
