Zelensky Booted from Fiery White House Meeting
As The Trump administration seeks to negotiate an end to the Russia/Ukraine war, they have been in talks with Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky to secure the rights to rare earth minerals in Ukraine as repayment for the $175B in aid the U.S. has given Ukraine.
Trump sent Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to Kyiv weeks ago to get the deal signed. After a discussion behind closed doors, Zelensky said he’d sign in Munich instead. But when Rubio and Vance met with Zelensky in Munich, he stalled and said he wanted to sign it in Washington instead.
Last week, Axios published a piece outlining five ways Zelensky was aggravating President Trump and his team, but tensions seemed to be lowering in anticipation of Zelensky’s arrival in Washington Friday to finally sign the minerals security agreement. When asked by a reporter about his prior categorization of Zelensky as a “dictator,” President Trump responded, “Did I say that? I can’t believe I said that. Next question.”
The Ukrainian president arrived at the Oval Office on Friday morning and sat down with President Trump and Vice President Vance to answer some media questions. The meeting took an unexpected turn about 40 minutes in, after Vance, while answering a question from a reporter, said the way to end the war is through diplomacy with Russia. An incensed Zelensky turned to the vice-president. “What diplomacy are you talking about, JD?” he asked. “What do you mean?”
“I’m talking about the kind of diplomacy that’s going to end the destruction of your country,” Vance responded.
From there, the meeting went off the rails, with Zelensky pushing back on the possibility of a ceasefire, saying the Russians should pay for the war, and accusing the U.S. of being out of touch, having the luxury of a “nice ocean” between themselves and the conflict. “You don’t feel it now, but you will feel it in the future,” the Ukrainian president said.
“You're gambling with the lives of millions of people. You're gambling with World War III,” Trump said to Zelensky, as the cameras rolled.
While the substance of Zelensky’s remarks was anathema to the Trump administration, they felt that Zelensky’s tone and approach came off as contentious, ungrateful, and demanding.
The press left, and Trump and his team stayed in the Oval Office while Zelensky and his team moved to another room. The Ukrainians tried to get the meeting to resume. But national security adviser Mike Waltz and Secretary of State Marco Rubio asked Zelensky to leave immediately. Fox News reported that the lunch prepared for the Ukrainians was eaten by White House and press staffers instead.
"[President Zelensky] disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for Peace,” President Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Senator Lindsay Graham, possibly the most staunch supporter of Ukraine in Congress (who once told Zelensky, “You’re the ally I’ve been hoping for all my life”), told the press after the disastrous meeting, “I don’t know if we can ever do business with Zelensky again. I think most Americans saw a guy that they would not want to go into business with.”
The Ukrainian president has since received an outpouring of verbal support from Europe, and has flown to meet with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, ostensibly to secure financial and military help to continue the war.
Note: Look in next week’s update for a brief history of the relationship between Ukraine and Russia.
Romanian Presidential Candidate Arrested
You may remember that a few months ago Romania threw out the results of their election after Calin Georgescu’s surprise win. Georgescu was a staunch critic of NATO and Western support for Ukraine. Officials said that Russia had interfered in the election using TikTok. Critics called it blatant disregard for the Democratic process.
Now, Georgescu has been arrested by the Romanian government on finance allegations, and a weapons charge. Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets to support the political prisoner, who has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and has argued that the election was “canceled illegally and unconstitutionally.” Georgescu said on Facebook that authorities “are looking to invent evidence to justify the theft of the elections and to do anything to block my…candidacy for the presidency.”
This comes after U.S. Vice-President JD Vance eviscerated the Romanian government at the Munich Security Conference last week for overturning the results of their election.
Anticipated Epstein Files: A Nothingburger
On Wednesday night, Attorney General Pam Bondi went on Jesse Watter’s Primetime to say that she was releasing the “Epstein Files” the next day. Jeffery Epstein was a financier/sex trafficker who operated from a private island in Florida. His clients have been among the world’s most elite and wealthy. He is known to have been an FBI informant and has other intelligence service connections. Some have speculated that he was running a blackmail operation for intelligence services.
After he was arrested in New York, he died under suspicious circumstances in a Manhatten jail cell, ruled as suicide. The FBI raided his island, hauling off computers, security footage, documents, photos, and all manner of incriminating evidence.
The release of this evidence to the public has been highly anticipated; but on Thursday, as everyone tuned in to see the bombshell, they found only some flight logs and an address book, all of which were already declassified and available publicly.
The news turned out to not be what was in the files, but what was missing from them. Pam Bondi said in a letter that the New York FBI field office had stonewalled her requests for the evidence they currently hold on Epstein. In the interest of transparency, she decided to release in one place everything she had to bring public pressure to the FBI (which works for the DOJ) to release the evidence and bring disciplinary action against those holding back that release.
DOGE Takes “Pulse” of Federal Employees
On February 22, the Office of Personnel Management sent an email on behalf of Elon Musk’s DOGE asking federal employees to respond with five things they had accomplished that week. The email said that failure to respond would be considered a resignation. This move sparked much controversy, with critics questioning its legality and some agencies exempting their employees from having to respond.
At the first administration’s cabinet meeting, Musk, not a cabinet member but in attendance, told the press, “I think that email perhaps was misinterpreted as a performance review, but actually it was a pulse-check review: Do you have a pulse?”
He’s now sent another email giving employees a second chance to respond, and President Trump has also published a memo that has asked federal agencies to submit plans for mass reductions in their workforce by March 13.
White House Changes Press Access Rules
Traditionally, press access has been handled by the White House Correspondents' Association, which is made up of journalists who decide what other journalists will have White House press access.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced on X that press access will now be handled by the White House Press Team. “Legacy outlets who have participated in the press pool for decades will still be allowed to join— but we will also be offering the privilege to well-deserving outlets who have never been allowed to share in this awesome responsibility,” she said.
Critics call the move a suppression of a free press, while supporters argue that this will enable more and not less voices.
“If the new system holds, he and future presidents could surround themselves with friendly reporters asking friendly questions — and punish those who don't,” Axios contended. Conservatives were quick to insist that this is exactly what happened when the Biden administration revoked the passes of 442 reporters, including those most antagonistic.
Supporters of the new rules also argue that the WHCA has kept out independent journalists and outlets that didn’t toe the party line. Outlets like Breitbart, Daily Wire, Daily Caller, The Federalist and Daily Signal will now have access to the White House, along with legacy media like The New York Times, CNN, etc.
However, the AP has been banned from the White House and Air Force One because, as they set the language guidelines for other media, they have said they won’t update “Gulf of Mexico” to “Gulf of America.” Critics say it’s petty to ban an outlet for something this petty. Supporters claim the AP was more than happy to change Ukraine’s “Kiev” to “Kyiv” at the request of Zelensky.
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