Three of CNN’s top anchors were stunned by the shouting match that erupted at a televised meeting between Volodymyr Zelensky, Donald Trump, and JD Vance.
“Wow, just wow,” were Dana Bash’s first words after the conclusion of the Oval Office row, during which Trump and Vance screamed over the Ukrainian president.
Tempers began to flare when the vice president accused Zelensky of being “disrespectful” as he criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“You should be thanking the president for trying to bring an end to this conflict,” Vance said.
Trump, who amid the tense verbal exchange threatened to pull American support for Ukraine, at one point screamed, “You have to be thankful. You don’t have the cards.”
Reacting live to one of the most dramatic Oval Office moments ever, CNN’s team of veterans were in a state of shock.
Christiane Amanpour, a CNN international correspondent, had both hands pressed to her face, her eyes wide and her head shaking, as she began her commentary.
“Never in the history of modern diplomacy—war, peace, whatever—have I ever, ever, ever seen anything like it,” she said. “We just have to hope that for the safety of the free world and for the American people, for the European people, for the Ukrainian people, that these two presidents are out of breath and try to iron out their differences.”
Bash, for her part, suggested that Trump’s obvious rage might have been embellished for the effect of the TV cameras.
“I’m not saying that there wasn’t genuine anger here, but he understands when the television cameras are there, as does JD Vance,” she said.
However, Kaitlan Collins, CNN’s top White House correspondent, who was in the Oval Office as the conflict unfolded, pushed back on this point.
“It was incredibly genuine, though,” Collins said.
“With Trump, all of his diplomacy, we know, is personal. That‘s why the world leaders who have come here this week have tried to flatter him… That was not what we just saw. He was, as Zelensky typically is, straightforward in his opinions.”
Collins remarked that the Ukrainian ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova, had her head in her hands as the discussion span out of control.
Trump has in the past month called Zelensky a dictator—while declining to apply that same label to Putin—and iced the Ukrainian leader out of peace talks with Russia.
Feb. 24 marked the three-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which sparked the brutal war that has raged unabated ever since.
In a Truth Social post following the conversation, Trump wrote, “We had a very meaningful meeting in the White House today. Much was learned that could never be understood without conversation under such fire and pressure.”
Bizarrely, Trump added that he has determined Zelensky “is not ready for Peace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations.”
“I want PEACE,” Trump wrote. “He disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for Peace.”
