Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who was in the Oval Office for last week's disastrous meeting with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, sought to set the record straight about the motivations of President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance.
"I've heard nonsense that this was a setup," Lutnick told CNN's Pamela Brown Monday. "We expected this to be a love fest. Really, it was just a love fest. But what happened is, President Zelensky came in and all he asked for was 'no concessions, security guarantees, reparations from Russia of $300 billion, give up no land, get them off our land,' and he kept going, 40 minutes before the cameras were in and 45 minutes once the cameras came in. Endlessly, relentlessly."
Lutnick added, "The president says, 'You're just messing with World War III. Stop it! Let's just talk peace, be a peacemaker. And he kept saying no, and it shocked us."
This led Lutnick to brand Zelensky a "troublemaker."
Brown asked if Trump wanted Zelensky to resign.
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"No, he's not weighing in on Ukrainian politics What he wants is to be a peacemaker. He wants to mediate. He wants to negotiate...like any great mediator, he's going to beat both sides down to get them to the table," Lutnick said. "The president is on Ukraine's side, and he said it. He said, 'I'll give them more military aid.' He said it, but he said he'll do it if he can get to peace."
Wolf Blitzer asked, "Mr. Secretary, one quick point, though. You were there in the Oval Office watching all of it unfold. Didn't you see the vice president, JD Vance, begin the angry exchange with his tough words about Zelensky? And that was in front of all the TV cameras."
Lutnick answered, "We knew that Zelensky would put on a show for the press, right? Because he wants to look good at home, look strong, and all the rest. But we figured it's got to end after 10 minutes. It didn't end after 20 or 30 or 45 minutes. And what did JD Vance say? 'Please say thank you and let's not litigate this disagreement out here in front of these cameras. Let's go back and talk about it then. But at least say thank you to the president.' If you think that is attacking President Zelensky, then you were in a different room than I was in because I thought that was reasonable and appropriate for him to just say thank you."