Trump’s Oval Office outburst with Zelensky, annotated
By John Mecklin, Thomas Gaulkin | March 1, 2025
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to the White House on February 28 didn’t go well. He was there to discuss a minerals agreement and secure continued US support from Donald Trump for Ukraine’s fight against the Russian invasion.
Most of their nearly-hour long Oval Office meeting with reporters was polite. But about 40 minutes in, with dozens of cameras in the room, Vice President J.D. Vance and Trump began scolding Zelensky, derailing both the meeting and the minerals deal, and shocking viewers around the world.
Here, we present that stormy portion of the meeting in its entirety, with notes and facts to guide you through the astonishing event:
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Keywords: Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, Russia, Russia-Ukraine war, Ukraine, Vladimir Putin, Volodymyr Zelensky, rare earths
Topics: Multimedia, Nuclear Risk, Special Topics
John Mecklin
John Mecklin is the editor-in-chief of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Previously, he was editor-in-chief of Miller-McCune... Read More
Thomas Gaulkin
Thomas Gaulkin is multimedia editor at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Prior to joining the Bulletin in 2018, he spent the... Read More
What a embarrassment to the world
I cannot watch this reel to the end. Trump is telling lie after lie after lie. I feel so sorry for the Ukrainian president who said thank you many time to Trump for the help the US had given them but his words fell on deaf ears with Trump telling Zelensky that he should be more thankful.
Trump’s behaviour makes me feel sick.
Very unfair powerplay against President Zelensky who, has always been thankful by the way, to parade him as an unthankful child. Zelensky is a clear winner here as he held his temper and remained respectful and presidential despite all the handicaps against him (jet lag, foreign language, powerplay, unexpected media show off etc.) in his heroic struggle for his country and for the democratic world.
The notes disappear too quickly making it hard to read them in time
Why didn’t Vance answer Zelensky’s question about security for Ukraine upon a minerals deal with US? Considering Zelensky’s past experience with Putin’s treachery, why would it be such an unfair and ungrateful question? Does Trump think that US control of mineral rights in Ukraine would stop Putin’s ambitions?
My friend advised me not to watch. It was only bearable with captions on and sound muted. And I wish I hadn’t. There was not one utterance from Trump or Vance that was not wrong-headed, obnoxious, mendacious and completely irrelevant. The psychopathy of Trump is clear.