JD Vance began Monday’s Oval Office meeting between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky with an icebreaker, given February’s combative encounter.
The vice president told Fox News Wednesday that he said to the war-time leader in front of his aides: “Mr. President, so long as you behave, I won’t say anything.”
“And he just chuckled a little bit, and it was a good little icebreaker,” claimed Vance, who—along with Trump—berated Zelensky earlier this year for what he viewed was an insufficient expression of gratitude for American war aid.
Vance was later mocked as a man-child, European allies defended Zelensky en masse, and Russia’s leaders rejoiced over the confrontation. Six months later, Vance parroted his boss’s assessment that it was “good TV.”
Monday’s meeting was more cordial. The sit-down followed last Friday’s non-breakthrough summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and came before Trump’s talk with key European allies at the White House.
Vance on Wednesday credited Trump with “cut[ting] through the B.S. of many diplomatic protocols” during that gathering by calling Putin right afterward.
When Trump announced his intentions, European leaders assumed he meant several days later, Vance said.
“He was like, ‘No. What time is it in Moscow? Let’s call him right now,’” according to Vance. “One of the things I have realized about President Trump’s leadership is he cuts through the B.S. of some of these diplomatic protocols and just says ‘I’m going to get things done. If I want to talk to somebody, I’m going to talk to somebody’.”
Vance, whom Trump has given a larger role in working on a peace deal, added: “And I think that kind of no holds barred, no B.S. diplomacy is part of the reason why we have made the progress we have. And we’ve made a lot of progress.”
After Friday’s summit with Putin, neither leader offered specifics about what was achieved.
Vance said the president has acknowledged there is no certainty about the outcome of negotiations until it’s done.
The post Vance Reveals His Patronizing ‘Icebreaker’ to Zelensky appeared first on The Daily Beast.
