ATLANTA — President Donald Trump berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for being “disrespectful” Friday in an extraordinary Oval Office meeting, then abruptly called off the signing of a minerals deal with the U.S. that Trump said would have moved Ukraine closer to ending its war with Russia.
Politicians both here in Atlanta and Washington, DC, told Channel 2’s Richard Elliot that what played out in the Oval Office Friday was remarkable and was something not unusual in politics, but it was just unusual that we saw it.
“Mister president. I think it’s disrespectful for you to come to the Oval Office to prepare to litigate this in front of the American media,” Vice President JD Vance told Zelenskyy.
What was supposed to be a meeting to sign a deal for mineral rights that Trump insisted on to help broker a deal to end the war with Russia ended up becoming a shouting match instead.
“Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel. We’re trying to solve a problem. Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel. I’m not telling you…because you’re in no position to dictate that,” Trump told Zelenskyy.
And it didn’t stop there.
“You are gambling with the lives of millions of people. You’re gambling with World War III. You’re gambling with World War III,” Trump told the Ukrainian president.
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Georgia GOP Chair Josh McKoon is no stranger to politics and said what we saw wasn’t unusual, it was just unusual that we saw it.
“I know it makes people uncomfortable,” McKoon said. “Those kinds of exchanges are not that uncommon. It is uncommon for them to be caught on camera.”
Georgia’s Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff criticized the exchange.
“The meeting was a disgraceful spectacle as the world watched the president attempt to publicly humiliate a man leading his nation’s self-defense against brutal military aggression,” Ossoff said.
Georgia Republican U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene sent her support for Trump on social media.
“Putting Zelenskyy in his place while he disrespects the US in the Oval Office is exactly what American leadership should look like,” Greene said.
A member of the Ukrainian delegation who attended the talks at the White House confirmed to ABC News that after the verbal exchange between Zelensky and Trump, the Ukrainian side waited in a separate room, ready to continue negotiations.
However, WH staff told them the meetings are canceled and they told the Ukrainians “to leave.”
“We were prepared for a productive meeting, but they clearly wanted to start a fight,” the source told ABC News.
When asked if the source believed Zelensky was deliberately provoked, the source replied, “I think so.”
No deal was signed.
The Associated Press and ABC News contributed to this article.
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