No peace at Trump-Zelensky talk

The much-awaited Oval Office meeting between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky went off the rails Friday. What was expected to be the signing of a deal that granted the US privileged access to Ukrainian natural resources unraveled into a shouting match — as well as a masterclass in diplomatic self-immolation from the visiting Zelensky. 

At one point, Vice President J.D. Vance told a visibly cross Zelensky: “Mr. President, with respect, I think it’s 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.”

“Have you ever been to Ukraine that you say what problems we have?” Zelensky asked. 

“I’ve actually watched and seen the stories and I know that what happens is, you bring people, you bring them on a propaganda tour,” Vance responded. “Mr. President, do you disagree that you’ve had problems bringing people into your military? And do you think that it’s 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?”

“Everybody has problems, even you,” Zelensky answered, saying that the US would feel the war “in the future.”

“You don’t know that,” Trump interjected. Zelensky told Trump, “God bless you.”

“Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel,” Trump continued. “We’re trying to solve a problem. Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel.”

Furious at what he perceived as disrespectful behavior, Trump told Zelensky that he doesn’t “have the cards right now. With us, you start having cards.” To which Zelensky replied: “I’m not playing cards.”

“Yeah you’re playing cards,” Trump said. “You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people. You’re gambling with World War Three… And what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country.”

Vance interjected, asking the Ukrainian leader if he’s “said thank you once this entire meeting.”

“You went to Pennsylvania and campaigned for the opposition in October, offer some words of appreciation for the United States of America and the president who’s trying to save your country.”

“Your country is in big trouble,” Trump said by the end of the exchange. “Wait a minute. No, no, you’ve done a lot of talking. Your country is in big trouble.”

The entire visit — what Zelensky wore, his posture, his words, all of it — almost appeared tailored to draw out a negative reaction from Trump. If that was the intent, which would make little sense diplomatically, it worked. 

Following the meeting, White House officials told Fox News that Trump kicked out the Ukrainian leader. The proposed deal went unsigned, and Zelensky left on his own. The White House told Fox News reporter Jacqui Heinrich that “Ukrainians were begging to reset,” but secretary of state Marco Rubio and national security advisor Mike Waltz pointed at the door.

“When I went to Upper Press to ask what was going on, the lunch that Trump and Zelensky were supposed to dine on and talk over was sitting in the hallway. I am told White House press office staffers will be eating it,” Heinrich reported. 

–Juan P. Villasmil

On our radar

UNREVEALING The Department of Justice has released the Jeffrey Epstein contact list, but so far, not much new information has been revealed.

KJP RETURNS Karine Jean-Pierre is back in the news, still defending her old boss, Joe Biden, saying that Democrats who wanted him kicked off the ticket were a “firing squad.”

DRILL, BABY, DRILL The Keystone XL Pipeline could be up and running in as few as two years, says former Trump energy secretary Dan Brouillette.

Trump talks taking over DC in exclusive Spectator interview

President Zelensky might have had a sense of his American counterpart’s attitude to the three-year-long war in Ukraine had he read Trump’s interview with The Spectator’s Ben Domenech this morning.

“That whole war is so sad,” Trump told Domenech in the Oval Office, hours before his tête-à-tête with Zelensky. “The sad part of that war is it would have never happened. I mean, I tell you, as sure as you’re sitting there. Zero chance. I used to talk to Putin about it. ‘Can’t do it, can’t do it.’ And he and I had good understandings together. He’s a tough guy. He’s a smart guy. Very smart. Very interesting. But he’s a tough cookie. And there was no chance it could have happened.”

“Is the answer that the Europeans just need to step up?” Domenech asked. “Well, they have to step up, but they also have to get equipment,” Trump replied. “They have to spend more money.”

There’s something for everyone in their hour-long conversation. Toward the end, Domenech, a Washington Commanders fan, implored the president to see if he could get his team’s stadium relocated to the area by the old RFK stadium, “…if it takes giving DC back to Maryland, to get rid of Bowser or something like that,” he hinted.

“So should I take over the government of DC?” Trump wondered aloud.

“The DC takeover, right? We’re working on that. Right?” said the president. “The mayor, the tents… And it was great ten years ago… It was good during my administration, but the crime… look, these are incompetent people.”

You can read or listen to the full transcript here.

–Matt McDonald

[REDACTED]

Jeffrey Epstein claimed his latest victims from beyond his (alleged) grave: conservative influencers.

The White House invited a slew of MAGA-sympathetic social-media behemoths for an exclusive briefing Thursday, and handed them massive binders that read “The Epstein Files: Phase 1, By order of Attorney General Pamela Bondi & FBI Director Kash Patel.”

“Tune in to Human Events Daily in 45 minutes,” Jack Posobiec posted, holding a selfie with the binder. Chaya Raichik, aka @libsoftiktok, Mike Cernovich and @dc_draino were among the hand-picked crew that received the binders, which notably contained no new information whatsoever. Prior to their now-infamous photo shoot, the group met with President Donald Trump and other senior leaders.

But everything about the rollout was a disaster. Other influencers such as Laura Loomer, who were not invited, flamed those who got the call. Several of the attending influencers posted virtually the same message about the meeting.

“Their ideology is monetization,” journalist Jordan Schachtel wrote; one guest told the National Pulse that the event was a “clusterfuck.”

The release was also panned by Republicans in Congress who are purportedly working to secure the release of these files. “THIS IS NOT WHAT WE OR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ASKED FOR and a complete disappointment,” Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna tweeted. The Florida congresswoman who has a task force on declassification via the House’s Oversight Committee, was recently under fire herself for her desire to interview members of the Warren Commission to get to the bottom of the JFK assassination. Unfortunately for Luna, the Warren Commission members are all dead.

Those invited claimed that more is yet to come. “We’re all waiting for juicy stuff,” Liz Wheeler wrote. “And that’s not what’s in this binder. That’s not what’s in this binder at all. And that’s exactly how the attorney general presented it to us.” The House GOP’s Judiciary Committee breathlessly tweeted out, “BREAKING: EPSTEIN FILES RELEASED,” with a link — to a Rick Roll video. The post has since been deleted.

–Cockburn