White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended President Trump’s recent behavior during negotiations with Ukraine leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday.
Friday’s joint press event quickly turned sour as Zelenskyy, Trump, and Vice President JD Vance openly argued and insulted one another over the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine — in a stunning showdown that unfolded on live TV.
During Sunday’s Media Buzz, Kurtz acknowledged Zelenskyy could be “irritating” but pointedly noted that “it also seemed like President Trump lost his temper.”
Leavitt pushed back hard, dismissing the idea outright: “I would disagree with that. I think what happened in the Oval Office, I was there, was unfortunately President Zelenskyy came in with a mindset not wanting to negotiate peace.”
She shifted blame to the Ukrainian leader: “President Zelenskyy was also antagonistic, and frankly, he was rude. He picked a fight with the Vice President of the United States. He repeatedly interrupted President Trump… After three years of funding this brutal war, [Americans] are sick and tired of footing the bill.”
Kurtz, sticking to his initial take, pushed back and even rationalized Zelenskyy’s issue with ongoing negotiations: “The president kicked him out without the expected agreement about rare minerals, and President Zelenskyy kept saying he needed security agreements, security because Vladimir Putin had a long history of breaking agreements, so wasn’t that a reasonable point for him to make?”
“Well, that’s not what this meeting was about,” Leavitt shot back. “And President Zelenskyy was told that ahead of time… This meeting was about signing an economic partnership between the United States of America and Ukraine.”
When Kurtz interjected — “His country’s at war!” — Leavitt pivoted, arguing Trump is still actively pursuing peace.
“Yeah, I would just say a ceasefire might leave all the Russian land gains intact,” Kurtz replied, before adding: “I’ve never seen anything like it, would have happened behind closed doors. So why hold the meeting in front of the cameras?”
Leavitt replied: “Because President Trump is the most transparent president in history and it was great for the cameras to be in there because the American people and the world were able to see what the president and his team has seen behind the scenes in negotiating with President Zelenskyy’s team.”
On Sunday, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer put forward a framework for a peace plan between Ukraine and Russia, though he acknowledged it relies heavily on assumed U.S. support.
Starmer said the U.K. is prepared to deploy boots on the ground in Ukraine as well as air force assets to ensure Russia does not infringe on a peace agreement. He nevertheless stated that the plan would rely heavily on U.S. backing as well.
