Sleazy Donald Trump decided to use a White House summit with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy to lust over “beautiful” young women in the warring country.
Trump, 79, was said to have blurted out the inappropriate comment during an August sit-down with Zelenskyy, 47, in a meeting that was markedly calmer than their Oval Office clash earlier in the year.
According to an account published by The New York Times, Trump told aides that, back when he owned Miss Universe, contestants from Ukraine “were often the most beautiful,” adding: “Ukrainian women are beautiful.”
Zelenskyy shot back: “I know, I married one.”
Trump then steered the conversation to his old friend Phil Ruffin, the 90-year-old Las Vegas billionaire who married former Miss Ukraine Oleksandra Nikolayenko, 44, at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in 2008, with Trump as best man.
Trump is then said to have called Ruffin and asked him to put Nikolayenko on the phone, before he handed his own phone to Zelenskyy. The room “went on pause” for roughly 10 to 15 minutes while the two spoke in Ukrainian, the Times reported.
Nikolayenko later recalled discussing relatives still in Odesa—saying Zelenskyy was surprised they had not left—while one unnamed official described the room’s mood shifting as laughter broke out and “a human connection” took hold, the paper said.
The anecdote comes as Trump continues his peace push in the Ukraine-Russia war, which saw him sit down with Zelenskyy at Mar-a-Lago on Dec. 28, before making a bizarre comment about how Putin wanted Ukraine to “succeed.”
Donald Trump bought the Miss Universe Organization in 1996, becoming the owner of Miss Universe, Miss USA, and Miss Teen USA for almost two decades. The franchises doubled as branding vehicles and TV properties, later airing through a joint venture with NBC in the early 2000s.
After NBC cut ties in June 2015, he bought out NBCUniversal’s stake in September 2015 and sold the pageant business to WME/IMG days later.
Trump’s pageant era also produced misconduct allegations. In October 2016, before he became president, it was reported that former Miss Teen USA contestants told BuzzFeed News how Trump walked into their dressing room while they were undressed. Some said they were as young as 15 and called it “shocking” and “creepy.”
The same year, former Miss Utah Temple Taggart alleged Trump kissed her during Miss USA-related events and left her “shocked.”
Trump has denied sexual assault allegations and has dismissed accusers’ claims.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
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