Hours before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met President Trump, Senator Lindsey Graham advised him to avoid conflict, particularly over security agreements. Despite this, Zelensky voiced his concerns during their meeting, resulting in a heated exchange recorded by the media. Trump and Vice President JD Vance seemed displeased when Zelensky failed to adequately thank the U.S. and sought security commitments against Russia. The meeting ended without a planned minerals agreement, leading to a contentious relationship. While some Republicans criticized Zelensky, he expressed hope for mending ties. Afterward, Trump left for Florida, dismissing concerns from the meeting.
Just hours prior to President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine meeting with President Trump in the Oval Office on Friday, Senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina offered some counsel to the Ukrainian leader.
“Don’t take the bait,” he advised, urging him to avoid getting into a dispute with Mr. Trump.
“I told him, don’t engage in arguments about security agreements,” Mr. Graham recounted on Friday night during a brief telephone conversation with The New York Times, while he was aboard Air Force One getting ready to head to Florida with the president.
Mr. Zelensky did not hold back his concerns during his discussion with Mr. Trump, who has come to anticipate a certain level of submission from nearly everyone he meets, ranging from foreign leaders to wealthy business magnates. The outcome was an astonishing reprimand delivered by a U.S. president to a foreign ally right in the Oval Office, all while the media’s cameras captured the moment.
The question that lingered over Washington on Friday night was whether the confrontation was an impulsive reaction or a deliberate verbal takedown orchestrated by Mr. Trump and Vice President JD Vance, neither of whom hold Mr. Zelensky in high regard.
However, three individuals familiar with the situation stated that neither Mr. Trump nor Mr. Vance were intending to derail a deal concerning Ukraine’s mineral rights, which Mr. Zelensky was expected to finalize in Washington. Instead, they indicated that Mr. Zelensky seemed to provoke the two American leaders by not adequately expressing gratitude towards the United States for its efforts to end the war (which Mr. Trump wanted to hear) and by insisting on assurances to safeguard Ukraine from future Russian aggression (which Mr. Trump did not want to hear).
Ultimately, Mr. Zelensky left the White House without a signed agreement regarding mineral rights, which Mr. Trump had sought for weeks, resulting in an even more strained relationship with his country’s key ally.
The day was not anticipated to unfold in such a manner.
‘Oh look, you’re all dressed up’
On the day before the Oval Office engagement, Mr. Trump contacted Mr. Graham and invited him to take a seat in the front row during the White House ceremony when the leaders were set to sign the minerals deal. The president appeared to be in high spirits, thrilled about the opportunity to generate revenue from Ukraine’s natural resources, as Mr. Graham recounted. Mr. Trump viewed it as a fitting conclusion to his third meeting with a foreign leader that week and to weeks of negotiations.
These discussions had progressed in fits and starts, clouded by lingering distrust. The Ukrainians felt slighted by the initial proposal; a U.S. team privately accused the Ukrainians of hindering negotiations. Moreover, the Americans had engaged in separate peace discussions with Russian officials, which further infuriated the Ukrainians.
In Mr. Trump’s other bilateral meetings that week — with French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday — the atmosphere was warm, partly because those leaders came prepared to flatter him, even while expressing some disagreements regarding his approach to Ukraine.
On Friday morning, Mr. Graham, along with about a dozen Senate colleagues, met with Mr. Zelensky at the Hay-Adams hotel at 9:30 a.m. During that gathering, Mr. Graham, a staunch ally of Mr. Trump, imparted his advice to Mr. Zelensky on how best to conduct himself at the White House.
Mr. Graham has been one of the most vocal proponents of Ukraine within the Republican Party. However, his warning to Mr. Zelensky highlighted the significant realignment among the G.O.P., business leaders, and even some Democrats towards Mr. Trump’s desires following his November victory.
Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut who attended the Hay-Adams meeting, described it as “very positive and productive.” When Mr. Zelensky arrived at the White House shortly after, Mr. Trump greeted him at the West Wing entrance and made a comment about his informal attire.
“Oh look, you’re all dressed up,” Mr. Trump remarked, signaling early on that he was entering the meeting in somewhat of a foul mood. Mr. Zelensky, who refrains from wearing a suit to express solidarity with his soldiers, was dressed in his typical unembellished, military-style outfit suited for official engagements.
Mr. Trump, Mr. Vance, and their advisers have long held a disdain for Mr. Zelensky, claiming that he merely seeks more financial aid and resources from the United States for a war with no clear end. Recently, Mr. Trump has attempted to protect Vladimir V. Putin, the Russian leader, from criticism regarding his role in igniting the conflict.
However, as the two leaders convened for a bilateral meeting without cameras, the atmosphere was polite, according to someone with firsthand knowledge of the proceedings.
Then, when the reporters arrived, the dynamic in the room abruptly changed, as noted by the source. About eight minutes into the meeting, journalists began bombarding the leaders with inquiries, exposing the rifts between Mr. Trump and Mr. Zelensky.
Mr. Trump started to show irritation towards reporters pressing him on security assurances, which Ukraine was hoping to secure in return for offering the United States a stake in the country’s mineral wealth.
Those assurances from Washington, the only nuclear power with genuine capability to confront Russia, had been Mr. Zelensky’s foremost demand.
There were moments of tension, such as when, nearly 40 minutes into the meeting, Mr. Trump was asked to address worries about being too closely aligned with Mr. Putin. Mr. Trump rebutted that assertion, claiming he was focused on reaching a peace agreement.
At one point, Mr. Trump attempted to correct Mr. Zelensky on the year Russia annexed Crimea, but he gave the wrong year. Mr. Zelensky then corrected him, reminding the leaders that Mr. Putin had repeatedly violated agreed-upon cease-fires. Mr. Vance reacted angrily, telling Mr. Zelensky he was disrespecting the president.
Yet perhaps the most contentious moment arose when Mr. Zelensky asserted that the war in Ukraine also posed a threat to the United States.
“You have nice ocean and don’t feel now, but you will feel it in the future,” he stated.
This compelled Mr. Trump to retort, indicating that Mr. Zelensky was “not in a very good position” and was “gambling with World War III.” Mr. Trump then ridiculed a reporter who inquired about what might happen if Russia violated a cease-fire.
“What if anything?” he questioned. “What if a bomb drops on your head right now? OK? What if they broke it? I don’t know, they broke it with Biden because Biden, they didn’t respect him. They didn’t respect Obama. They respect me.”
As the extraordinary argument progressed, Oksana Markarova, Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States, who was seated beside the leaders, found her face in her hands.
Eventually, Mr. Trump declared that there had been enough discussion, adding that it would make for “great television” before exiting the room.
‘I’m not sure that we did something bad’
After the meeting concluded, Mr. Zelensky and his aides returned to the Roosevelt Room while Mr. Trump gathered with his aides in the Oval Office. The two leaders were meant to partake in the signing ceremony that Mr. Graham was eager to attend, followed by a joint press conference. Their delegations were also supposed to have lunch together.
Mr. Trump remained displeased and declined to continue working with Mr. Zelensky for the day. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Michael Waltz, Trump’s national security adviser, were sent to the Roosevelt Room to announce that the remainder of the day’s agenda would be canceled.
A member of the Ukrainian delegation suggested a one-on-one meeting between Mr. Trump and Mr. Zelensky to alleviate the simmering tensions; however, U.S. officials showed no interest in pursuing that option.
Instead, Mr. Trump proceeded with the lunch arranged in Mr. Zelensky’s honor, filling the vacant seats with some of his top aides, who enjoyed an early spring green salad, rosemary roasted chicken, and crème brûlée. Mr. Trump’s deputy chief of staff, Dan Scavino, happily shared the menu on social media.
For years, the Republican Party has been divided over its stance towards Russia. Privately, some operatives voiced their shock at Mr. Trump’s conduct, even as they criticized Mr. Zelensky for what they viewed as unnecessary provocation.
Nonetheless, rather than experiencing a significant schism among Republican officials following the Oval Office outburst, nearly all rallied behind Mr. Trump.
Mr. Graham told reporters outside the White House that Mr. Zelensky should “resign and send someone over that we can negotiate with, or change.” Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi, who had conveyed to Mr. Zelensky earlier that day at the Hay-Adams that the senators were there “as a show of support,” deleted a post that featured him shaking hands with the Ukrainian leader.
A few hours later, Mr. Zelensky appeared on Fox News for a previously scheduled interview, and some Republicans were calling for him to apologize for the confrontation that occurred at the White House. Rather than doing so, Mr. Zelensky expressed some regret over the heated exchange but maintained his belief that he could mend his relationship with Mr. Trump.
“I think we need to be very open and honest,” he stated. “And I’m not sure that we did something bad.”
As if taking a victory lap, Mr. Trump departed Washington with some of the boxes seized by the F.B.I. from Mar-a-Lago in 2022 during the Justice Department’s inquiry into his handling of classified documents.
“Justice finally won out,” Mr. Trump declared in a statement. “I did absolutely nothing wrong.”
On the flight to Florida, Mr. Trump had the television tuned to Fox News, viewing Mr. Zelensky’s interview.