‘You can’t embolden somebody that does not have the cards,’ Trump said of the Ukrainian leader.
In the wake of a meeting with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which was cut short after an argument at the Oval Office, President Donald Trump told reporters what his Ukrainian counterpart had to do to receive an invitation back to the White House.
“He’s got to say, ‘I want to make peace,’” Trump said while walking to board Marine One on Friday evening.
“He doesn’t have to stand there and say, ‘Putin this, Putin that,’ all negative things. He’s got to say, ‘I want to make peace. I don’t want to fight a war any longer.’ These people are dying. He doesn’t have the cards.”
Hours earlier, a meeting between the two parties in the Oval Office devolved into a shouting match. Matters broke down when Zelenskyy began to demand that the deal be changed to include more security guarantees from the United States before he signed the deal.
Trump told Zelenskyy in the Oval Office that Ukraine is “not in a very good position.”
“You don’t have the cards. With us, you have the cards,” Trump said.
“You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people. You’re gambling with World War III,” Trump said. “What you’re doing is very disrespectful to this country.”
The White House later disclosed that the Ukrainian leader was asked to leave early, no deal had been signed, and the joint press conference scheduled later that day had been canceled.
“He disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for Peace,” Trump went on to write on Truth Social.
Trump shared before leaving the White House that Zelenskyy had already expressed his desire to come back to the White House, and Trump said he couldn’t let the Ukrainian leader return.
The president also said that Zelenskyy no longer wanted a cease-fire with Russia and stressed to the members of the press, “You can’t embolden somebody that does not have the cards.”
“I want it to end immediately,” Trump said of the war in Ukraine. ”I want a cease-fire now. He says, ‘Oh, I don’t want a cease-fire.’ Well, all of a sudden he’s a big shot because he has the U.S. on his side.”
By T.J. Muscaro
