Trump Admin Reveals What Led To Explosive Confrontation Between Trump, Zelensky

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent disclosed on Saturday the reason why the recent sit-down between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and President Donald Trump took a dramatic turn during a contentious encounter in the Oval Office the day before.

According to Bessent, Zelensky repeatedly backed away from signing a minerals and economic pact, despite having previously assured U.S. officials on several occasions that he would finalize the deal during his visit to Washington last week.

Bessent, alongside other top administration figures, explained that this repeated backtracking led Trump to adopt what they described as a “three strikes and you’re out” approach when it came to negotiations with Ukraine’s leader.

Several members of Congress—including prominent Ukraine ally Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC)—were expecting Zelensky to officially sign the minerals deal on Friday. However, that plan unraveled after tensions flared in the Oval Office, where Vice President JD Vance was also present.

President Trump has been adamant that Ukraine must begin repaying the hundreds of billions of dollars in U.S. military and humanitarian aid it has received. Trump has also noted that many European governments have already struck deals to recoup their own investments.

The minerals agreement, which would assign around 50% of profits from Ukraine’s natural resources sector to the U.S. until American loans are paid back, is something Trump views as a critical first step toward any broader security deal. Although Trump has said he’s open to providing security guarantees and possibly deploying peacekeeping forces to Ukraine, he has made clear that securing the minerals pact comes first.

Hours after the high-stakes meeting concluded, Treasury Secretary Bessent spoke to Fox News, shedding light on what led to the standoff and the diplomatic build-up leading into the summit.

“President Trump sent me there to, again, we were supposed to bring the Ukrainian people closer to the U.S. people, send a strong signal to Russian leadership that we had not only shared values, but now shared economic interests, and also have a strong signal for the American people that their tax dollars were actually going to work,” Bessent explained to host Laura Ingraham.

Bessent went on to describe the face-to-face conversation he had with Zelensky:
“Instead, President Zelensky and I had a very tough 45-minute meeting at a very loud decibel level. And I kept telling him, ‘Mr. President, the purpose of this is to show the Russians there is no daylight between us.’ And at the end of the meeting, he said, well, ‘I’m not signing this.’”

Bessent, stunned by Zelensky’s refusal, pressed him to explain how he planned to handle the media’s questions—since the public widely expected the minerals deal to be finalized during the meeting. Zelensky replied that he was still open to signing, but that he wanted to hold off until the Munich Security Conference the previous month.

However, once the Munich conference arrived, Zelensky again declined to put his signature on the document.

“Then he got to Munich and he ran into Vice President Vance and Secretary [of State Marco] Rubio. You know, very different than Vice President Harris and Secretary [of State Antony] Blinken, but he didn’t sign the agreement,” Bessent explained further.

By the time last Friday’s meeting was set to happen, Zelensky was once again expected to sign after giving renewed assurances to the Trump administration just days earlier.

“So finally we were supposed to have the signing today. It was supposed to be a great day,” Bessent said on Fox News, calling Zelensky’s last-minute refusal one of the most significant “own goals in diplomatic history.”

WATCH:

When reporters asked Trump whether he would be open to hosting Zelensky for a future White House visit after the chaos on Friday, the president didn’t sound eager. “Well he says he wants it now, he wants it right now but I can’t do that,” Trump responded.