How did Waltz and Rubio kick Zelensky and the Ukrainian delegation out of the White House?
Referring to the verbal spat between President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky during a meeting at the White House on Friday, US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz explained how Zelensky reacted to being “outed” from the White House, according to Russia Today.
The spat occurred during a meeting between Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance with Zelensky and the Ukrainian delegation. The situation escalated when Zelensky insisted that Trump should provide more support to Kyiv instead of taking a neutral stance and trying to mediate between Ukraine and Russia.
Trump accused his Ukrainian counterpart of being ungrateful for US support and unwilling to make the necessary concessions to end the war, while Vance criticized Zelensky for his lack of diplomacy.
After the altercation, Waltz told Breitbart News: “The master negotiator knows when to walk away from a bad deal or a bad negotiation!”
Waltz, referring to how he and Secretary of State Marco Rubio conveyed Trump’s message to Zelensky’s team, added: “They were taken aback. I don’t know what they thought they could continue to negotiate after that very public incident in front of the whole world! His team (Zelensky) and, as you saw, his ambassador, who was in the middle of the White House office with his face in his hands, fully understood the gravity of the situation!
Earlier, a White House staffer, who asked not to be named, said that Trump had effectively “threw Zelensky out” and that the Ukrainian delegation was still “begging to be let back in.”
However, according to Fox News correspondent Jacqui Heinrich, Rubio and Waltz insisted that the Ukrainian delegation leave the White House immediately.
Waltz added that the Ukrainian team had learned that “American patience was running out,” describing the mood of the American team as follows: “How can you come and insult someone and then actually need money and help?”
“So we made it clear, without any ambiguity,” she added. “We made it clear that what could have been a wonderful meeting for them and their country was over, and it was time to leave.”
Meanwhile, Rubio criticized Zelensky for “wasting” everyone’s time with his approach, questioned his true intentions regarding the war with Russia, and said Zelensky should apologize for turning a high-level meeting into a “disgrace.”
Zelenskyy later indirectly said that he had no plans to apologize to Trump, despite acknowledging that the negotiations had not gone well.