
President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance engaged in a fiery back-and-forth with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a public Oval Office meeting on Friday.
At one point, Trump wagged his finger at the Ukrainian leader, who was seated right next to him, and told him he had to โbe thankfulโ after the U.S. during the Biden administration poured tens of billions in money and military assistance into the war-torn country following Russiaโs 2022 invasion.
โItโs going to be a very hard thing to do business like this,โ Trump said, before Vance broke in.
โYou can say โthank youโ โโ he began before Zelensky interrupted and said he had thanked โthe American peopleโ many times in the past for their help.
โYou can accept that there are disagreements,โ Vance continued, โand letโs go litigate those disagreements rather than trying to fight it out in the American media when youโre wrong. We know youโre wrong.โ
Then it was Trumpโs turn.
WATCH:
โBut you see, I think itโs good for the American people to see whatโs going on,โ he began. โYou have to be thankful. You donโt have the cards. Youโre buried there. Your people are dying. Youโre running low on soldiers โโ he continued as Zelensky continued trying to interrupt.
โNo,ย listen,โ Trump went on. โThe you tell us, โI donโt want a cease fire. I donโt want a cease fire.โ Look โ if you could get a cease-fire right now, I tell ya youโd take it so the bullets stop flying and your men stop getting killed.โ
โOf course I want to stop the war,โ Zelensky countered. โBut I said to you with guarantees.โ
โBut youโre saying you donโt want a cease-fire,โ Trump responded. โI want a cease-fire. Because youโll get a cease-fire faster than youโll get an agreement.โ
At one point, per Fox News, Vanceย added: โMr. President, with respect, I think itโs disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office to 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 bringing it, to bring it into this country.โ
โHave youโve ever been to Ukraine that you say what problems we have?โ Zelenskyy shot back.
โIโve actually watched and seen the stories and I know that what happens is you bring people, you bring them on a propaganda tour,โ Vance continued. โMr. President. Do you disagree that youโve had problems bringing people into your military? And do you think that itโs respectful to come to the Oval Office of the United States of America and attack the administration that is trying to trying to prevent the destruction of your country?โ
Zelenskyy continued that under war, โeverybody has problems, even youโ and that the U.S. would feel the war โin the future.โ
โYou donโt know that,โ Trump responded as Zelenskyy said โGod bless youโ to Trump.
โDonโt tell us what weโre going to feel. Weโre trying to solve a problem. Donโt tell us what weโre going to feel,โ Trump continued.
โYou are in no position to dictate that, remember that,โ Trump said, as Zelenskyy defended that he was simply answering Vanceโs questions.
โI feel weโre going to feel very good, very strong,โ Trump said. โYouโre right now not in a very good position. Youโve allowed yourself to be in a very bad position.โ
โYou donโt have the cards right now. With us, you start having cards,โ Trump said again, as Zelesnkyy said, โIโm not playing cards.โ
โYeah youโre playing cards,โ Trump said. โYouโre gambling with the lives of millions of people. Youโre gambling with World War III. Youโre gambling with World War III. And what youโre doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country.โ
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