Meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy for the first time in five years, former President Donald Trump Friday complained about his 2019 impeachment and said if re-elected, he would work to end the Russia-Ukraine war with a deal “that’s good for both sides.”
“We’re going to work very much with both parties to try and get this settled and get it worked out,” Trump said, standing next to Zelenskyy while speaking to a small group of reporters ahead of their closed-door meeting. “It has to end. At some point, it has to end. He’s gone through hell. His country has gone through hell.”
Trump said the two leaders “have a very good relationship, and I also have a very good relationship, as you know, with [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin.” Zelenskyy added that he hoped they would continue to have a good relationship.
“It takes two to tango, and we will,” Trump responded.
After their meeting, Trump told Fox News that he had not changed his position on the war. “We both want to see this end, we both want to see a fair deal made,” he said.
Trump said that the war is a “complicated puzzle” and when asked what a fair deal would entail, he said it’s “too early to say that.”
In his comments before the meeting began, the former president ranted about his 2019 impeachment as a consequence of the now-infamous phone call he had with Zelenskyy in July of that year.
During the July phone call, Trump asked Zelenskyy about opening an investigation into President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden. Various officials, including the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, Bill Taylor, said that Trump held up aid to Ukraine over his demands to have its government investigate the Bidens.
“It was a hoax, just a Democrat hoax, which we won,” Trump said of the impeachment effort, with Zelenskyy standing by his side Friday. Trump has long denied wrongdoing and was acquitted in his Senate trial.
He claimed that Zelenskyy said that Trump did nothing wrong during their phone call, saying that the Ukrainian president “said it loud and clear and the impeachment hoax died right there.” He praised Zelenskyy for being “like a piece of steel.”
Speaking briefly, Zelenskyy said he believes he and Trump have a common view that Ukraine has to prevail against Russia and acknowledged the importance of the U.S. election. “We understand that after November … we hope that the strength of the United States will be very strong,” he said.
Hours later, one of Trump’s top surrogates, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., speaking at a Trump rally in Walker, Michigan, argued against further aiding Ukraine. Kennedy suggested that NATO provoked Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and argued that the U.S. should no longer be helping Zelenskyy and his people.
“Don’t you think we could use that money over here, in this country?” Kennedy said, drawing heavy applause.
Kennedy praised Trump’s handling of his meeting with Zelenskyy and said, “I know what Donald Trump was thinking while he was having that meeting. He was thinking, I want to turn this guy over and hold him by his legs and shake all the money out of his pockets and hope it adds up to $208 billion … That’s what the Democrats gave him, and we need to bring that money home.”
It was the first time Trump and Zelenskyy had met in person since Trump’s impeachment. They last met in person when Trump was president, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in Sept. 2019.
The two last spoke by phone in July when the Ukrainian leader congratulated the former president on his GOP nomination for the presidency and condemned the assassination attempt on Trump earlier that month.
Their meeting comes amid concerns about the future of Ukraine and its defense against Russian aggression and how the outcome of the U.S. election will greatly impact the war’s fate, and amid disagreements in Congress about whether to continue providing aid to Ukraine.
Trump has conveyed that his approach toward the conflict would differ greatly from that of his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump previously suggested that he may not support continuing to arm and provide assistance to Ukraine, backing off years of U.S. policy. Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, has also made clear he opposes offering ongoing funding.
Friday’s meeting between Zelenskyy and Trump almost didn’t happen after backlash over comments the Ukrainian president made to The New Yorker that Vance is “too radical.” In that same interview, Zelenskyy also expressed doubt that Trump knows how to address Ukraine’s conflict with Russia. “My feeling is that Trump doesn’t really know how to stop the war even if he might think he knows how,” said Zelenskyy, adding later, “The idea that the world should end this war at Ukraine’s expense is unacceptable.”
Trump has expressed confidence that he could end the war, but he has never provided specifics on how he would go about it and has equivocated in his support of Ukraine, which has received substantial funding from the U.S. since Russia’s Feb. 2022 invasion.
Asked Thursday at a press conference whether he would encourage Ukraine to give up land in exchange for a peace agreement, Trump deflected and said the war would have never happened if he had been elected president in 2020.
“Those who are discussing how Ukraine should compromise” or negotiate territory with Putin to end the war, “should put themselves in our place,” Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin, said on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports.” “They need first to ask Ukrainian victims and survivors of this war what they think about such compromises,” he said.
At a campaign event in Georgia on Tuesday, Trump said, “Every time Zelenskyy comes to the United States, he walks away with $100 billion. I think he’s the greatest salesman on Earth. But we’re stuck in that war — unless I’m president. I’ll get it done. I’ll get it negotiated.”
Earlier this year, the former president seemed open to an idea floated by some GOP senators: a loan to Ukraine in exchange for Ukrainian rare earth minerals.
And if the 2024 election yields another divided Congress, it could still be difficult to pass additional aid as many Republicans have been critical of previous packages.
On Thursday, Zelenskyy met at the White House with President Joe Biden in the Oval Office during which Biden announced a new aid package to Ukraine. Zelenskyy also met at the White House with Harris who expressed her unwavering support to helping Ukraine win the war.
