negotiation is being done? >> come on, let's get our big boy pants on here. vladimir putin is one of the coldest blooded, cold blooded individuals i've ever met. he knows what the back and forth means. it's not that he's timid about coming to the table. he doesn't need to. trump's got the the blood running in his direction. he just needs to sit there and get more. this is this is the exact opposite of the way to negotiate with putin, the russians. i can tell you from arms control, negotiations beyond counting are better than anybody else at taking concessions, putting them in their pocket and then saying, what have you got for me now? that's what they're doing in the kremlin tonight. >> it was a remarkable day. ambassador john bolton, one for the history books, that's for sure. thank you for for joining to share your perspective tonight. >> thanks for having me. >> thank you all so much for joining us on a chaotic and busy

newshour. cnn news night with abby phillip is up next. >> tonight, a shouting match. >> if you didn't have our military equipment. >> that will echo across the globe. the president turns the oval office into the set of the apprentice to stage a reality tv spectacle. >> you don't have the cards right now. >> to embarrass ukraine's president. plus, you can hear the clink of glass in moscow. russians rejoice over donald trump's public flogging of volodymyr zelenskyy. >> you are gambling with world war iii. >> while saying not one negative word about vladimir putin. and rule number one of maga is you talk about how great donald trump is all the time. >> disrespectful. >> the way he confronted the president was just over the top. >> the president's allies do anything they can. >> to the highest. >> level in this country's office, and he refused to wear a suit. >> to prop up the president.

live at the table. alexander vindman. reena ninan. keith boykin. pete seat, jenna arnold and malik abdul. americans with different perspectives aren't talking to each other, but here they do. >> this is. >> cnn breaking news. >> good evening. i'm abby phillip in washington. in new york. excuse me. let's get right to what america is talking about. the oval office octagon tonight. the world is reeling, wondering if it just watched a public shouting match. that is the prelude to a public divorce. and proof that alliances that hold the west together are broken, perhaps beyond repair. volodymyr zelenskyy arrived in washington ready to put his pen to a minerals deal, what many view as a precursor to the peace talks that include a ukrainian seat at the table with the united states and with russia. but what normally would have been a run of the mill oval office photo op, it devolved into something totally

different, something without any obvious parallels. interruptions, raised voices, hurt feelings, demands, threats. world leaders sitting a few feet away but a world apart. >> what kind of diplomacy? jd, you are speaking about? what what what what do you mean? >> i'm talking about the kind of diplomacy that's going to end the destruction of your country. >> yes. >> mr. president. mr. president, with respect, i think it's disrespectful for you to come into the oval office and try to litigate this in front of the american media. >> you're gambling with the lives of millions of people. you're gambling with world war three. you're gambling with world war three. and what you're doing is very disrespectful to the country. this country that's backed you far more than a lot of people said they should have. >> have you said thank you once this entire meeting? no. in this entire meeting, have you said. >> thank you, mr. president, we are staying in our country, staying strong. from the very beginning of the war, we've been alone and we are thankful. i

said thanks. >> you haven't. >> been in this cabinet. you haven't been in this. >> we gave you through the stupid president, $350 billion. we gave you military equipment. you and your men are brave. but they had to use our military. if you didn't have our military equipment, if you didn't have our military equipment, this war would have been over in two weeks. >> in three days? i heard it from putin in three days. this is something. maybe less in two weeks. of course. yes. >> it's going to be a very hard thing to do. business like this. i tell you. >> that's an understatement. you know how you know this was exactly as bad as it looked? well, the secretary of state marco rubio. he slunk down in his chair. during all of this, the ukrainian ambassador, oksana markova, she could only put her head in her hands. the consequences were immediate. that rare minerals pact basically evaporated. the east room, where the deal was supposed to be signed. empty. zelenskyy walked out of the white house and on to a fox news

set, and then he promptly told the world that he doesn't have a plan to say sorry. >> i'm not hearing from you, mr. president. a thought that you owe the president an apology. >> no. >> i respect president, and i respect american people. i'm not sure that we did something bad. >> here in the studio. alexander vindman, have you ever seen anything like this? and what does this mean for ukraine going forward? >> it's absurd. i've never seen or never read anything like this. >> there's nothing in our history that suggests that a president treat an ally like this, let alone an adversary. we wouldn't treat an adversary like this in public. another world leader? yeah. and i think what really what what's interesting to me is that there is a moment of clarity around this week, a couple of things. the first one is the un vote, in which the u.s. sided with north korea, with russia against our

allies, against ukraine, and then. i today, earlier today, proceeded to try to berate the leader of a country that's been fighting for for its own independence, its own sovereignty for three years, but also really defending the west, a bulwark against russian aggression. beating up russia in a way that makes us safer and makes the europeans safer. making sure that russia doesn't pose the same kind of threats. and we what do we do? we we beat them up for it. and i'm i'm pretty proud of the fact that he held his own against that room of sheer hostility. um, what's sad about this is, you know, i my book released this week, it talks about the history of 30 plus years. republican administrations from george h.w. bush all the way through to the democratic administrations. we've made mistakes along the way, but nothing like we've seen today. >> you know, just to just to reset expectations here. i mean, it seems to me the biggest, uh, issue here, and it's linked to what alex just said, is that the

trump administration wants to change this idea that russia is the enemy, that fundamentally, that's what this is about. the idea that ukraine is needed as a bulwark against russian aggression is just not something that they believe in. >> you know, it's interesting point, because that's been the framework of how everyone has looked at this ukraine, russia conflict is that that trump is more closer to russia. he wants business dealings. that's how it's going to break down. but what this really was today, abby was one part reality tv show and one part telenovela. and the thing about really good reality tv is everybody shows up and they know the parts that they're going to play. it was very clear jd vance knew the part he was going to play, trump said. he opened it up so everybody could see the transparency and what is happening. but diplomacy doesn't. this kind of diplomacy doesn't happen live on tv and bad reality tv is when the people don't play their parts and then it goes off the rails like we saw today. >> i want to play what you

mentioned, jd vance, because this really all kicked off when vance kind of went right at zelenskyy, when the the press was there for this meeting. listen to this. >> i think it's disrespectful for you to come into the oval office and try to litigate this in front of the american media. and do you think that it's respectful to come to the oval office of the united states of america and attack the administration that is trying to trying to prevent the destruction of your country? have you said thank you once this entire meeting? no. in this entire meeting, have you said thank you? you went to pennsylvania and campaigned for the opposition in october? offer some words of appreciation for the united states of america and the president, who is trying to save your country. >> i have never seen a vice president behave like that in public for sure. i have never even heard of it happening like this with the president. president in private. does zelenskyy, is he the one that is the one who needs to issue an apology tonight?

>> absolutely. he should have done it already. he should have done it in the oval office. if you look at the totality of that meeting, 40 minutes of that meeting, dare i say it was a perfect meeting. and i'm being ironic in that a little bit. but it was it was positive. it was cordial. and it's on camera. it wasn't until zelenskyy got upset with jd vance, when the vice president said, and he was absolutely correct, that the previous administration was more interested in vapid wordsmithing than they were in bringing an end to this conflict. they cared more about applause lines at davos than they did in ending the war in ukraine. and he was correct about that. zelenskyy was upset, and quite frankly, he was testy throughout the entire. >> he was upset because he was trying to make the point. and alexander vindman knows a lot about this. >> that he was he was mad

because he. wanted to hear. >> he was. >> trying to. say that russia. is bad. >> russia is bad. how do you. >> negotiate? >> it is nonsense. it's completely ahistorical. this is the this is the second administration of a president that was oversaw four years of war between russia and ukraine. didn't do anything about it. now he thinks he has this idea to bring peace. and what does he do? he bends the knee. he appeases his. his goal is to appease putin when what he should be doing is figuring out the fact that you're right. the biden administration didn't do enough. but russia is on the ropes. and the way you get peace is you get putin to negotiate. you get. >> you get you get peace. through a resolution at the united nations, that means absolutely nothing. we demand that you. >> administrations have tried to conduct a. >> policy with words. >> of appeasement. >> and russia. has been at war since the russian federation came into existence. >> actually, it's been in war since four years of trump. also, don't forget, he didn't manage. >> since 1991. they have been almost at war the entire time.

crimea, chechnya go on down the list. >> and it's words. >> words, words. but my. >> point is america. >> why are we? >> why do. >> we guys. hold on a second, pete. one of the points that zelenskyy was making is that you can't trust putin. that's what he was trying to say, was that we had to deal with him before, and he reneged on his deal. and he was warning, correctly that you can't just, you know, say a handshake deal with vladimir putin. and he's he's the guy that's going to live up to it because he hasn't repeatedly. >> yeah. he hasn't. >> and what's wrong about that? >> well, what's different is donald trump is the president. and you have to give a give a guy a chance just because you don't like president donald trump doesn't mean it's destined for failure. give the guy a chance and he has a better chance than joe biden ever had. he was president when the invasion happened and zero zero he did. >> zero enemies. are you? filibuster? >> i mean. >> this was.

>> this. >> was always interrupt me. so it's okay. >> this was absurd. >> what happened today? >> i mean, the idea that the. >> zelenskyy has never thanked america. >> he has repeatedly. >> thanked america. >> that's completely false. so jd vance had no reason to say that the idea that he should somehow apologize for what he's done to jd vance. ever apologize for calling donald trump america's hitler or calling him an idiot? no, he hasn't. but somehow we're going to force zelenskyy, the president of a country in the middle of a war, to apologize over something he has no reason to apologize to trump. apologize for calling zelenskyy a dictator. did he apologize for bringing russia into the negotiation to try to solve a war with ukraine without without even including ukraine in the negotiation process? no, at all, not at all. and jd vance didn't even doesn't even know enough about the topic to be having the discussion. when zelenskyy asked him, have you ever been to ukraine? he said, no, i've seen it on tv. are you kidding me? i've seen it on tv. is your excuse for being able to lecture the president of ukraine in the middle of a war, as opposed to having some actual knowledge when he's telling you

about russia and everyone knows about russia's history, except, apparently jd vance. >> it's clearly it's a political divide here, because it seems as if that republicans are pretty happy with what happened. let's not make sure we don't have the revisionist history donald trump was responding to a reporter's question asking about whether or not, you know, putin. donald trump responded to that. he said, next question. one more question, jd vance then piggybacked off of what donald trump was saying, and he was talking about the importance of diplomacy. and what he specifically was saying is that negotiating with one side, which is what the united states and europe has done this entire time, not inviting putin to the negotiating table. jd vance was talking about that's how donald trump views diplomacy. it was zelenskyy. then who then turned to jd vance and said, jd, not vice president vance. jd to ask him a question. there wasn't there wasn't a reason for him to ask jd vance anything. i thought that donald trump and jd vance did exactly what they

needed to do in that moment, because he was surely disrespectful and he responded to it. i thought that they did exactly what they should have done. this was bravo to donald trump and jd vance. >> this was an ambush. it was clearly set up this way. i worked in the white house. you don't have events that go off the rails like this ever, except when donald trump is in office, because they have some coordination of how these happen. there's a pool spray that comes in. you have a conversation for 2 or 3 minutes, and then the media leave and you have the real serious business. donald trump's staff is incompetent. that's the reason why this happened today. it happened before with chuck schumer. it happened with nancy pelosi. when they are arguing over the budget negotiations because donald trump likes the theater, did they force. >> zelenskyy to. ask the question of jd vance? >> i actually disagree with you on that because, you know, i think you've diagnosed the moment that this happened. but the fact that jd vance engaged with zelenskyy, i think it was not a mistake. i think vance has always had an issue with zelenskyy, and we'll talk more

about that. but the reception of this, you said it's a political divide. well, over in moscow and among russians, this was the, the, the reaction and insulin. pig finally got a proper slap down in the oval office. another senior russian senator, the kyiv clown, played his role of president poorly at the white house. a russian foreign ministry spokesperson. how trump and vance restrained themselves and didn't hit this scoundrel is a miracle of self-control. there is an agenda in russia to demonize and really to get rid of zelenskyy. and the one thing perhaps that has come out of this is that there is a lot of agreement among some republicans that zelenskyy ought to be pushed out. what do you think that would do? >> first of all, i you know, it's interesting that the russians are on board zelenskyy, who they've been trying to eliminate, assassinate multiple occasions and failing. but the leaders of the free world, the other leaders, all of our closest friends, habitual friends, folks that have been there for us since 911, anytime

that we're attacked, anytime that we need to rely to defend ourselves, our strongest trading partners, all of them came out in force unanimously supporting zelenskyy. why? because this was clearly an ambush. this was jd vance writing a false narrative about who the good guys were and who the bad guys were. zelenskyy had just shown pictures of soldiers that were abused, talked about 20,000 kids being kidnaped and and jd vance decides to pick this fight. he claims that, you know, putin is not the bad guy. zelenskyy is just coming off the fact that just two days before trump called him a dictator, he came in there. cool. everything was really nice. copacetic. until that moment when jd vance decided to blow it up. that was the big boy table. he wasn't ready for that conversation. he was, first of all, ignorant, maximally ignorant, and and frankly, maximally destructive. why did jd why why did zelenskyy ask jd vance a question? why did he do that? because it was out of form. donald trump had said, we have one more question. jd

vance was finishing. then zelenskyy asked him a question. >> why did he? >> why did he point to. jd vance zelenskyy. >> but isn't? first of all, isn't zelenskyy as the president of the of ukraine, an expert on his own country and on the negotiations and the deals that he himself was a part of the previous time before this latest. >> invasion as. >> jd vance, he was to clear the record up. don't you think he has the right to. >> do that? jd vance said that was not the platform. in order to do that, those conversations could have been had outside of the oval office. he decided to interject himself into the conversation when donald trump, pretty much as. >> ten minutes was. >> ready to. >> hand over, he literally said. >> one more question. and it was zelenskyy who decided to insert himself, and he got a response. >> we got more ahead. coming up next. apparently, zelenskyy's shirt is part of the problem, infuriating trump as maga ally in the room confronted the ukrainian president over his wardrobe. plus, the clash has now become a rorschach test on

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slots for free and get 100 million coin bonus goldfish casino slots. go for the gold. >> laura coates live. >> tonight at 11 eastern on cnn. >> more now on the oval office breakup between the president of the united states and the president of ukraine. already tonight, maga allies are doing what's required to keep most favored lawmaker status with donald trump, which is to praise him and praise him again. >> this is a message from me as a member of congress to

president zelenskyy right now. don't you ever, ever come back to this country again and disrespect our country, disrespect the oval office and disrespect my president the way you did today. after all that we've done for you, your unbelievable sense of entitlement. it's disgusting to me. and it's disgusting to most americans in this country as far as i'm concerned. you can go home and never come back. >> okay. um, so there's that. there is a little bit of a mixed bag, but i think a dwindling number of republicans willing to push back. let's start with lindsey graham, because i think this is a fascinating story. after trump had a blow up with zelenskyy the last time, uh, and trump called him a dictator, essentially he spoke with lindsey graham and apparently had a very encouraging conversation. now, today, here's what lindsey graham is saying about zelenskyy. >> i've never been more proud of president trump for showing

the american people in the world. you don't trifle with this man. >> zelenskyy felt like he needed to bait trump in the oval office. jt was awesome. we want to help you, but we're going to be respected. so i think moscow is probably more afraid of trump than ever. hope the chinese are, and i hope the iranians are. >> right. >> quite a turnabout. >> quite a turnaround. >> it seems like he got a talking to after the last conversation. >> in a huge way. but i also think when you're looking at all the world leaders that have come through from macron to netanyahu to starmer, there's always been a way that they've approached you. you're deferential. you don't challenge. zelenskyy showed up wearing what he wanted to wear. he showed up challenging toe to toe trump. that's not a style they're used to in the oval office, let alone with donald trump. what's happened after this? abbey tonight in real time, yesterday or tomorrow? there are supposed to be a lot of leaders from around europe gathering together in london to talk about once there was some sort of a peace deal in with ukraine. how do we

counter and support? do we send troops from our country? how do we help fund ukraine and the global security pact in europe? i am hearing from one source that there are more leaders showing up to this meeting than were actually expected to show up. people have watched this. they really understand it and they've taken note. >> there was one european official who said it. now it's time for a new leader of the free world. but my question to you is what's wrong with that at this point? i mean, is it is it time for europe to just say, you know what, we got this. >> i think that's what's going to happen. i think this was clearly a moment of clarity that now the european leaders understand that the u.s. is completely unreliable. i mean, we're facing great dangers here. now, there is nobody that's going to say no to the to trump anywhere in the republican establishment. there are 1 or 2 congressmen that are actually saying this is absurd. what happened in the oval office? this is not what happens. this is not how you treat allies, but by and large, you have nobody that's going to face up to

them. so what we are seeing is a break from our allies. they're now going to you could you could argue that some of this is is overdue. we we carried the burden of european security for a long time. the europeans haven't invested enough. they're already moving in this direction. ever since 2022. they were upping the ante on their contribution. now it's a clean break. our allies won't trust us to be there for them. they're going to go ahead and double down on the resources they need to support themselves and to support ukraine. really the question is, you know who runs out of steam first? the russians, with their $2 trillion economy taking thousands of losses a week or 1500 a day, or the europeans. the europeans with resolve, they could support ukraine. it's going to take a little bit of time for them to ramp up their military industrial complex. as the u.s. winds down. i don't see that breaking point because, you know, the narrative is just false. the russians are not making gains. they're brittle. they're weak. as long as the u.s. doesn't lift sanctions, i think the fact is it's going to play out as expected.

>> what about a scenario in which there is some peace deal that can be struck, but it comes at a cost that zelenskyy has to step down. should he accept that. >> he would accept it? i mean, he's on the record as saying that. i think the fact is they are hungry for peace. there is probably there is nobody more interested in peace or far more interested than donald trump that wants to score some, some points, that he's a peacemaker and get himself that nobel peace prize, that he's been anchored for. these guys actually want peace. why? because their civilian population has been suffering. the military has been suffering, and they're willing to compromise. they're not going to go ahead and give that away as just straight up before the negotiations start. they're looking for bargaining chips. they're looking to alleviate the pain for as many of their people as possible. but they're not going to just throw it away. >> so republican congressman don bacon says it's a bad day for american foreign policy. mike lawler says missed opportunity for both the united states and for ukraine. sadly, the only winner of today is vladimir

putin. i asked this all the time. i mean, what's to stop putin from just icing ukraine out of the good graces of the united states and then taking the whole thing? >> well, that's what he's been trying to do. and i disagree with everything that the lieutenant colonel has been saying. you know, i'm just some simple indiana boy. but when i watched this event today, i want to know why our ally is allowed to disrespect the united states of america. the leader, the current leader of the van jones. let me finish. >> in apology. president trump owes zelenskyy an apology for the way he's treated him. for what? i didn't, i demand it. what? i demand that they give. >> you demand un resolution number two. go ahead and say. >> demanded preposterous things like zelenskyy owes an apology for being attacked. i'm going to go ahead and say something outrageous, actually. >> if the price of you say that ukraine wants peace, jd vance should resign. >> how about that? we're just going to go through crazy stuff. >> you say ukraine wants peace. yeah. if zelenskyy wanted peace,

then he would have kept his mouth shut. >> he did. until there were lies. what? until he was. >> aly vance didn't. >> lie about anything they were talking about a dictator. >> that that wasn't. >> that's not what he said yesterday. that's not what he was. >> no one said that he was. no one. >> said. >> that he was responding to j.d. >> vance talking about diplomacy. >> in the mold of donald trump. >> all talk at the same time. so let's just try to have one person talking at. >> a time. you can't give trump a day. >> can you? just a second. because look, the the question now is why is it that the only thing that matters in this high stakes game of life and death and global diplomacy is whether or not you say, i apologize. thank you. >> why is it the only. >> why is that the only thing that matters to you? because that's the only thing that you've mentioned thus far. why is that? the thing that rises above the reality that there is a deal that needs to be struck, and all parties involved need to be adults in the room?

>> well, there are others who think the only thing that matters is us provoking russia through our words by constantly saying putin is a dictator and aggressor. i agree with that. but i also agree that maybe you need to hold your rhetorical fire to get someone to the table to negotiate an end. >> you know, i mean. >> it's not that hard. >> that's a fair point. hold hold the fire on putin. i mean, is that. >> that's all they're doing? >> is that worth it? if at the end of the day, it comes to to peace? >> i mean, i mean, we've seen in history that putin doesn't care whether we hold fire on him or we attack him. he's going to do what he wants to do regardless. so i don't think that's an effective strategy. but i think the fundamental problem is that donald trump doesn't understand american power. i mean, we're a superpower. we have the ability to wipe out ukraine if we want, and so does russia, as, by the way. but super powers understand that that power comes with great responsibility. and part of that responsibility is you can't just be the bully in the room. you have to figure out a way to

work with other people, including your allies. donald trump doesn't think that. he thinks that everybody has to kiss his ring. canada. mexico. panama. colombia. ukraine. everyone must kiss his ring in order to get what they want from the united states. that's a recipe for long term disaster. you may be able to get what you want in short term, but american foreign policy in the 20th century, when we tried to impose our will on everyone, led to disaster after disaster after disaster, after terrorist attack, after terrorist attack. it will come and bite us in the in in the if we do that. >> you know, one of the things donald trump people voted him in because they know that he is able to do things in a different way that other presidents just would never consider doing. this is a classic example of what that is like. but when you look the reagan national defense survey conducted a survey and asked americans, how do you view russia? 80% of them actually view russia as a threat. when you now poll that same community of americans and you ask them, what do you think about the ukraine war? there has been an uptick of americans, both democrats and republicans, saying they do want this war to

end, but they know that this is a threat. americans don't want to see that the threat being brought here to the united states, and they understand this. i was looking over some. you've got your new book out. i want an og. soviet leader nikita khrushchev once said, we will take america without firing a single shot. we do not have to invade the u.s. we will destroy you from within. that was 1956. there was soviet union, but there is history here, and there are decades of this, of understanding of where the russians stand. >> a couple of points about the whether or not putin, the goal was just to take the whole thing. well, he can't with what army can he do that there are already talks about how the russians are struggling now. he doesn't have an army to run roughshod over europe. >> i guess the thing is, no, no, i'm talking about the whole of ukraine, not the whole of europe. i don't even think he. and the reason, the reason i say that is because if we turn off the spigot, okay. and then we also go to the table with putin and say, ukraine, they're not really our allies anymore. the

question i'm asking is, if you're from a negotiating, if you're vladimir putin, you would just say, okay, it's only a matter of time. i don't even have to deal with zelenskyy. i can just wait. i think because of what. >> i think, because of how long this war has been going on. and believe it or >> what's the linsky? a number of times he said that he had a conversation with the linsky this morning and he told him, this is don't take the bait. >> the media is going to try to bait you. don't take the bait. and he said that he was

disappointed in what he saw from zelenskyy. and this was from somebody who has supported ukraine over and over. >> one of john mccain's former aides, mark salter, wrote this on twitter. i haven't referred to john mccain in my previous criticism of lindsay, but i will tonight. john would be ashamed of you, lindsay. i doubt he'd ever speak to you again. you've betrayed everything he believed in. so that's the reaction from somebody who knew those two men who were once very good friends. reena ninan. alexander vindman, thank you both very much for joining us. lieutenant colonel vindman new book, the folly of realism how the west deceived itself about russia and betrayed ukraine. it is out right now, and everyone else stick with me, because coming up next, we have so much more to talk about on this topic, including how a wardrobe choice apparently started this meeting off on the very wrong foot. that's next. >> welcome back. >> have i got news for you? new tomorrow on cnn. >> if you have heart failure or chronic kidney disease, vasica

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>> we invented a whole new thing. >> no one could possibly have understood where it was going. >> twitter. >> breaking the bird premieres march 9th on cnn. >> lights, camera. chaos. it's the formula for reality television. and it is also the script that donald trump seemed intent on following. today in washington. >> yes, i had to close. how are you? pretty sure he's all dressed up today. >> but what may have looked and sounded like a joke was not a joke at all. a u.s. official tells cnn that the second ukraine president stepped out of that armored vehicle, wearing his actual signature military garb, that trump would not be able to see past zelenskyy's uniform in the oval office. it was clear that the pair had hit a sartorial sticking point.

>> why don't you wear a suit? why don't you wear a suit? you're the highest level in this country's office, and you refuse to wear a suit. just want to see if you own a suit. >> yeah, you have problems. >> a lot of americans have problems with you not respecting. >> i don't have such. i will wear a costume after this war. will finish. yes. maybe. one. maybe something. maybe something like yours. yes. maybe some. something better. >> yeah. okay. all right. so the tension had the world turning on every word. something donald trump knew very well. and he turned to the camera and literally said it out loud. >> all right, i think we've seen enough. what do you think? this is? this is going to be great television. i will say that thank you. all right. we'll see what we can do about putting together. >> jenin. arnold is at the table with us, joining us in our fifth seat also is paul rieckhoff. he's the founder and ceo of independent veterans of america and an independent national

security analyst. you know, not for nothing. i mean, i actually legitimately think that trump was like, okay, that's enough of this. time to close up shop. jd vance seemed very happy about the situation, but the fact that this thing about what zelenskyy was wearing became an issue. let's do a little bit of a flashback. here is jd vance tweeting about this in 2023. and he says, look, i know schumer changed the dress code, but letting someone in the senate chamber dressed like this really crosses the line. it is amazing to me that this is even a conversation that we are having. >> that's right. and it is just a total fall into the trump reality television show. that was his plan from the beginning. he is a top marketing. i would say. he would run a phenomenal agency, social media agency as well. but the fact that this is what continues to get airwaves and real estate in our minds when it comes to the fact that we are now regressing back to

another chapter in the cold war is so stunning to us. churchill came to the white house during world war two in his military garb. we have seen our elected officials go to natural disaster zones wearing windbreakers. zelenskyy is in the middle of a war and it is fully appropriate. >> i actually think that churchill analogy, first of all, it's been made before and when the war started, a lot of people said that he was channeling a sort of sort of churchillian esthetic by basically signaling to his people as their commander in chief that they were in a war. right. and now it's become, i think, for the right, a symbol that he is cosplaying as a military hero when he's not. >> let's talk about what's most important. that was disgraceful. disgusting, disrespectful, dangerous, and bad for not just ukraine, but bad for american national security. it felt un-american. it felt traitorous. i've never seen a reaction from

veterans of all backgrounds, like i have in the last couple of hours, to that disgusting, demoralizing display. so i don't even want to focus too much on what was worn. i want to focus on what was, what was said and what happened. and that was a real low point for american leadership. and right now, it also importantly to to focus on makes america less safe. our allies are less supportive. we have more people around the world who hate us. and america, in my view, hasn't been this isolated since i and many others invaded iraq. and i think that's what we have to focus on, is that america is less safe today because of that. >> yeah, i don't think people care about the clothes. this is something that people have talked about with zelenskyy since the start of the war. he's typically worn the military fatigues, and people have talked about that. washington, d.c. >> just to be clear, i don't wanna interrupt you, but please continue. but the reporting is that this was a problem for president trump, that it set the tone for their meeting, which is why we're talking about it, because it actually had an impact on how they conducted

this meeting. >> so the good thing is that everybody saw at the beginning the conversation that joking that donald trump said he said he looked nice. i actually thought that zelenskyy, as opposed to the fatigue, i thought he looked good in what he had on donald trump pointed that out. but it also in that exchange in the oval office, he even joked about the fact and said that i think he looks nice. that's literally what donald trump said. now, i thought that the reporter's question actually was just absolutely ridiculous. i don't know who the guy is. it is marjorie. >> taylor greene's boyfriend. >> so you're using your time to ask questions about clothes. yeah, but but. >> but it just goes to show the shallow description. >> of a reporter is a bit of a stretch. >> yes, exactly why he's in the oval. office to begin with. yeah. >> on this question of like what's happening with the diplomacy playing out publicly in this way. i mean, donald trump is a reality tv show producer, but here's karl rove saying this was a mistake. >> this is why diplomacy should never be conducted in public. i'm confident that we now know

that, for example, in world war ii, there were heated disagreements between franklin roosevelt, joseph stalin and winston churchill, but we didn't see them broadcast on tv. this is a mistake to have it have it broadcast this. this was not the moment that should have been televised. >> it wasn't just a mistake. it was an ambush. i mean, this was a plan. this was a politically calculated ambush from all sides, right? no one would feel comfortable walking into an environment like that from any country, and no one should be treated that way. from the reporter to the greeting to the mocking of his clothes, it was beneath america and beneath the white house to treat a guest in our country, and a leader who is actively engaged in combat, who is right now losing his fellow service members. he's losing his women and children. his cities are being bombed, and we're talking about his clothes and we're talking to him that way. it was victim shaming, which is what trump has been doing to zelenskyy and ukraine since before he got elected. it's unacceptable. it's inappropriate. and it's also undermining not just ukraine but

our own national security. we are now aligned with the bad guys. russia is the bad guy, ukraine is the good guy. and when we continue to attack ukraine and defend russia, that puts us in line with the bad guys, which is not where america wants to be. >> well, it's very clear. >> pete, of american allegiances, because that's what it kind of seems like. >> well, actually, i want to weigh in on the clothing. i know you're trying to distract us from it, but. >> i do, i do, i do, but this is why i know this. this is the clothing is a distraction. i'm not trying to. i'm trying. >> to focus. let me, let me, let me. >> you came at me, so i'm going to respond. >> but as as an alum of the george w. bush white house, i have an old fashioned view of this and a pretty hard line. tie jacket, no jeans, oval office. that's where i stand on this. but if we're going to hold on, hold. can you let me finish? because that's exactly what. >> i was about to say. didn't even if we're going to have, you know how zelenskyy well played. >> president zelenskyy for what he's wearing, then we should also criticize elon musk for wearing a hat and a t-shirt.

>> tell it to. donald trump and. >> jd vance. so i mean, i just did being you're being consistent, but the white house isn't being consistent. and they have no credibility to talk about decorum. i mean, the reason why this question was asked is because this so-called reporter from one american news was there. why was this person even in the room? why was there a reporter from the russian news agency tass, state media from russia in the room, in the oval office? that's that's what i'm talking about. i talk about the incompetence of this, this administration. and yet you can't have the associated press there because trump doesn't like them, because they won't refer to the. >> i've actually escorted media into the oval office. it was part of my. >> job. i know, you know, it is absolute chaos. >> when the foreign media you. >> can't if you if you if you can't control whether the russian news agency is is allowed to come into the oval office, one of the most protected spaces in the country, and you don't have the you don't have the moral credibility or even the the intellectual ability to be able to run the. >> white house. i want you to answer the substance of what paul just said, that he he said,

this is victim blaming, victim shaming of ukraine, which is the victim in this whole dynamic. what's your response to that? >> i just we talked about this for two segments prior to you coming out here. >> and i. >> said, yeah, i'm sure you did. and president zelenskyy was the instigator in this conversation. >> absolutely. >> 100% of. >> russian propaganda. >> he interjected. >> himself, i'm offended. propaganda and i offended. i'm offended. >> by what you say and how you. present this entire situation. i'm an alumni of. >> you're offended that the united states. >> wants to. >> an associate. >> i'm an. >> alumni of. >> the. >> united states army. that's what i'm an alumni of. and millions of veterans around this country saw that today on our outrage of all backgrounds, because of the there. >> are millions. >> who saw. >> it. >> because there. >> are. >> people like you. who are from our president. >> standing with putin instead of with america, standing. >> with putin with that. >> zelenskyy shouldn't have

opened. >> his mouth to. why did zelenskyy, our ally in a trench fight. so i don't want to go into a fight with any of you by my side. but why did he jump into a conversation just like no one asked any gentlemen? no one asked about lewinsky today, jen psaki interjected himself into it. and you. >> are selling out. >> jen psaki. >> please stop talking, okay? everybody is talking at the same time. >> i'm fine with. >> my statements, guys. >> everybody is talking at the same time. that does not work, okay? we cannot hear a word you are saying. i understand there are, you know, a lot of very high emotions about this topic, but please, one at a time. okay? look, jenna, i know you were trying to say something so you can continue. >> pete, it is imperative that you understand that when when they invited zelenskyy into this space, which was in front of cameras and marjorie taylor greene's boyfriend, that there was a. okay, we are going to be in an open dialog. we have watched trump day after day yesterday. he he had british representatives who he was putting on the spot and also telling them, oh, that's enough. don't continue to talk about that. when it was in relation to

canada. this is a stage, a theater, that he has created. it is an invitation. when you ask somebody to sit in that seat, it is bullying at its most shallow capacity. if i found out my seven year old son was making fun of somebody for what they were wearing on the playground, we would have some. >> i didn't defend. >> the wardrobe. >> i hold on a second. >> i did not. >> say that. hold on a second. >> attack. what? he had. >> only hold on a second. hold on a second. this was absolute bait from jd vance, who was pomp and circumstance. and you owe us this kind of decorum. my background is in foreign policy. i was at the un for years. i understand the theatrics of foreign policy. this was disgusting. we have regressed decades. this is the most significant thing to happen between u.s. and europe since the fall of the berlin wall. and you want to talk about suits. you want to talk about who interrupted who? >> yeah, because it's actually relevant. because it's actually

relevant. i also have a question. you said you have. >> a question. >> for you. well, you you said you. >> the one who said that. you said this. now we can talk about the fact that. >> zelinski. interjected himself into that. you can't just ignore it as if it's nothing. it was. >> something in just a minute. so stay with me. uh, we'll be back in a moment. >> amid upheaval and sweeping changes. >> the president of the united states. >> trump heads to capitol hill to share what's next. follow cnn for complete coverage and in-depth analysis. the presidential address to congress on cnn. >> i don't play for money before my mom passed, she told me to play big. play for something bigger than myself. now my ambition is to play so i can help and inspire others. that's why i joined sofi. they help people save, spend, earn, borrow and invest toward

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president zelenskyy with a customary american nagging. >> he's all dressed up today. >> oh. >> oh, my country is at. >> war. >> traditionally, diplomatic attire requires a tie that covers your balls. >> it's. it's just manners. >> people. >> just manners. >> and then this is what trump tore into. >> you want me to be tough? i can be tougher than any human being you've ever seen. i'd be so tough. >> you're right. his tie. >> is. >> covering his body. oh, and. >> may i say, did you not find that comforting? >> well, then you can catch an

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