March 3, 2025 • 7 mins
Reagan Reese talks with Mendte in the Morning about the White House meeting between Zelenskyy and Trump/Vance and how things fell off the rails.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, Reagan Reese, the White House corresponded for the Daily Caller,
has an exclusive up on Dailycaller dot com about a
senior White House official who I guess told her details
about the Trump Zelensky Oval Office and how exactly it
went off the rails. This should be fascinating. Reagan Reese,
again as the White House corresponded for the Daily Caller
(00:22):
and an independent women's forum visiting fellow Reagan, this is
really fascinating. Tell us about your column.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Yeah, so, I mean, there were tons of stories coming out,
you know, in the aftermath of the Oval Office blow
up on Friday, just kind of detailing what went down,
how did it happen, And what we saw from the
left and from other social media users was that this
was an ambush and that Jade Banton Donald Trump had
planned to blow up on Zelensky like this.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
And first of all, if you watch.
Speaker 4 (00:54):
The full fifty minutes in the Oval Office, you can
see that it was very cordial up until that last
eight minutes.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
But what a.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
Couple of senior White House officials were able to tell
me was that they had already planned, you know, kind
of a celebration of the signing of the minerals deal
that they expected this to go. How these Oval office
bilaterals typically go. So the world leaders meet together in
the Oval Office, they shake hands, they both give some
opening remarks, they take some questions from the press, and
(01:27):
then the press is ushered out. Maybe negotiations go on
behind closed doors. But you know, I myself and a
White House official pointed this out to me, saw that
the lunch for these two were already played it. The
weight staff was in the West Wing corridors waiting to
serve Zelenski, waiting to serve Trump to celebrate the signing
(01:48):
of this deal, and instead what we got was kind
of this blow up in the Oval Office that I
think was surprising to.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Many what said Donald Trump off? There was something that
Zelenski said that really set him off? What was it?
Speaker 4 (02:06):
So it appears that what Zelenski said that's kind of
set Trump off was that he kind of he you know,
just said that the United States has did not protect
Ukraine against Russia between twenty fifteen, I believe, until twenty
twenty two.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
That appears to be what was what set them off.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
But you know, if you look at other reporting in
addition to mine, you know, even Whitehouse officials told me
that Zelenski came in and from the second he entered
the Old Office really had this disrespectful posture to him.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
He was rolling his eyes at President Trump and jd. Vance. Uh,
he was, you know, kind of interrupting them.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
Just had this weird vibe going about him that was
quite disrespectful. Uh. And other reporting that sticks out to me.
Axios reported that one of the strikes against Zelenski was
that he wasn't wearing a suit, and that Trumps had
actually told President Zelensky multiple times, Hey, you should really
come wearing a suit. That's one way to impress the
(03:08):
president and make this go well. And he still didn't
show up. And so that quickly see where President Trump
says to him when he's greeting him and says, oh,
he dressed up today.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
That was a joke.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
That was a window into how President Trump actually felt
about how Zelensky showed up to the White House.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
I heard an interview with Marco Rubio and he was
upset with the meeting, and he said because he's getting
some of the blame for it, by the way, but
he said that the deal was done five days ago
and they wanted it signed in Ukraine, but Zelensky insisted
to come to the White House, and that plays into
the narrative of this being a setup, that this is
(03:49):
something that Zelensky wanted this to blow up for some reason.
The question is what is his endgame? If he wanted
this to blow up and he wanted to basically ail
the United States, where does it go from here? What
do you think?
Speaker 5 (04:05):
Well, the one thing I can say about this that
administration senior administration officials really pointed out to me was
that it seems.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
Like Zelenski just does not know how to communicate with
Donald Trump and JD.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
Vance.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
These are two world leaders who are very different than
what was in the Oval Office before with the President
and Biden. And so what they kind of stressed to
me was that it just seems like Zelensky made a
misplay and that he didn't really understand who he was
dealing with. He doesn't understand how to communicate with Donald Trump,
how to communicate with JD.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
Vance, And that's kind of what happened here.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
And so maybe looking at what Marco Ruby said about
Zelensky coming to the White House, I'm sure that is
play can play into what these senior administration officials were
saying with that he just does not understand these two
world leaders and how to negotiate and work with them,
and that's causing him to make these mistakes.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
So you're not going as far as many people go
to say that he intentionally wanted to blow up this meeting.
You think that it was just him not understanding how
to deal with these two because there's some people out
there that are saying that he doesn't want this war
to end right now, no matter what he's saying, and
that he wasn't going to accept any deal with the
(05:26):
United States because it was supposed to be him just
showing up to sign some paperwork and shake hands and
as you said, have lunch. But it seemed as if
he did not want that to happen. But you don't
or the people you've talked to don't have that impression.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
You know, at the end of the day, I can
only speak to what these senior administrations that have said
to me, and so one did say to me. It
does raise this question does he want the does he
really want the war to end? And that is something
that a senior White House age did you know, expressed
to me about this, but you know, largely that was
(06:05):
not something I talked.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
About with my sources.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
It was more so kind of what the posture was
and whether they expected this coming in.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Did you ask your sources what happens now?
Speaker 3 (06:17):
We did not get to that point, you know.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
I I was trying to get a story in and
out as quick as I could.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
It was a race against the.
Speaker 5 (06:24):
Clock and a race against every other outlet on Friday.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
I think you're going to see that just that's very
publicly been unfolding over the past couple of days. Zelenski
did an interview before my piece even published with Brett
Baer talking about you know what he wants and Jadie
Dance is going to take to Sean Hannity tonight to
talk about this. Mark Rubio went on CNN with Caitlyn
(06:48):
Collins and so what happens next, I actually think will
unfold rather publicly, and you know that will be where
you can get your information, luckily, is from straight from
these administration smiles.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Yeah, it sounds like the Trump administration is willing to
further the talks. It sounds like everything's not dead right now,
and that should be a good thing for Ukraine, for
America for everybody, because it means that Donald the only
person that matters is Donald Trump at this point, and
it sounds like he has at least moved past this,
(07:21):
that he blew up, he set his piece, and that
he's ready for some type of deal. But I'm not
sure if all the rest of the world is ready
for that yet, because it sounds like Europe is trying
to take over the entire deal at this point. But
your reporting has been wonderful in The Daily Caller, and
I'm so glad you're here on the show. Reagan Reese,
(07:44):
White House correspondent for The Daily Caller and Independent Women's
Foreign visiting fellow Reagan again, thanks for your time. I'll
talk to you next week.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Yeah, of course, thank you,
Well, Reagan Reese, the White House corresponded for the Daily Caller,
has an exclusive up on Dailycaller dot com about a
senior White House official who I guess told her details
about the Trump Zelensky Oval Office and how exactly it
went off the rails. This should be fascinating. Reagan Reese,
again as the White House corresponded for the Daily Caller
(00:22):
and an independent women's forum visiting fellow Reagan, this is
really fascinating. Tell us about your column.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Yeah, so, I mean, there were tons of stories coming out,
you know, in the aftermath of the Oval Office blow
up on Friday, just kind of detailing what went down,
how did it happen, And what we saw from the
left and from other social media users was that this
was an ambush and that Jade Banton Donald Trump had
planned to blow up on Zelensky like this.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
And first of all, if you watch.
Speaker 4 (00:54):
The full fifty minutes in the Oval Office, you can
see that it was very cordial up until that last
eight minutes.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
But what a.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
Couple of senior White House officials were able to tell
me was that they had already planned, you know, kind
of a celebration of the signing of the minerals deal
that they expected this to go. How these Oval office
bilaterals typically go. So the world leaders meet together in
the Oval Office, they shake hands, they both give some
opening remarks, they take some questions from the press, and
(01:27):
then the press is ushered out. Maybe negotiations go on
behind closed doors. But you know, I myself and a
White House official pointed this out to me, saw that
the lunch for these two were already played it. The
weight staff was in the West Wing corridors waiting to
serve Zelenski, waiting to serve Trump to celebrate the signing
(01:48):
of this deal, and instead what we got was kind
of this blow up in the Oval Office that I
think was surprising to.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Many what said Donald Trump off? There was something that
Zelenski said that really set him off? What was it?
Speaker 4 (02:06):
So it appears that what Zelenski said that's kind of
set Trump off was that he kind of he you know,
just said that the United States has did not protect
Ukraine against Russia between twenty fifteen, I believe, until twenty
twenty two.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
That appears to be what was what set them off.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
But you know, if you look at other reporting in
addition to mine, you know, even Whitehouse officials told me
that Zelenski came in and from the second he entered
the Old Office really had this disrespectful posture to him.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
He was rolling his eyes at President Trump and jd. Vance. Uh,
he was, you know, kind of interrupting them.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
Just had this weird vibe going about him that was
quite disrespectful. Uh. And other reporting that sticks out to me.
Axios reported that one of the strikes against Zelenski was
that he wasn't wearing a suit, and that Trumps had
actually told President Zelensky multiple times, Hey, you should really
come wearing a suit. That's one way to impress the
(03:08):
president and make this go well. And he still didn't
show up. And so that quickly see where President Trump
says to him when he's greeting him and says, oh,
he dressed up today.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
That was a joke.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
That was a window into how President Trump actually felt
about how Zelensky showed up to the White House.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
I heard an interview with Marco Rubio and he was
upset with the meeting, and he said because he's getting
some of the blame for it, by the way, but
he said that the deal was done five days ago
and they wanted it signed in Ukraine, but Zelensky insisted
to come to the White House, and that plays into
the narrative of this being a setup, that this is
(03:49):
something that Zelensky wanted this to blow up for some reason.
The question is what is his endgame? If he wanted
this to blow up and he wanted to basically ail
the United States, where does it go from here? What
do you think?
Speaker 5 (04:05):
Well, the one thing I can say about this that
administration senior administration officials really pointed out to me was
that it seems.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
Like Zelenski just does not know how to communicate with
Donald Trump and JD.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
Vance.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
These are two world leaders who are very different than
what was in the Oval Office before with the President
and Biden. And so what they kind of stressed to
me was that it just seems like Zelensky made a
misplay and that he didn't really understand who he was
dealing with. He doesn't understand how to communicate with Donald Trump,
how to communicate with JD.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
Vance, And that's kind of what happened here.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
And so maybe looking at what Marco Ruby said about
Zelensky coming to the White House, I'm sure that is
play can play into what these senior administration officials were
saying with that he just does not understand these two
world leaders and how to negotiate and work with them,
and that's causing him to make these mistakes.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
So you're not going as far as many people go
to say that he intentionally wanted to blow up this meeting.
You think that it was just him not understanding how
to deal with these two because there's some people out
there that are saying that he doesn't want this war
to end right now, no matter what he's saying, and
that he wasn't going to accept any deal with the
(05:26):
United States because it was supposed to be him just
showing up to sign some paperwork and shake hands and
as you said, have lunch. But it seemed as if
he did not want that to happen. But you don't
or the people you've talked to don't have that impression.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
You know, at the end of the day, I can
only speak to what these senior administrations that have said
to me, and so one did say to me. It
does raise this question does he want the does he
really want the war to end? And that is something
that a senior White House age did you know, expressed
to me about this, but you know, largely that was
(06:05):
not something I talked.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
About with my sources.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
It was more so kind of what the posture was
and whether they expected this coming in.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Did you ask your sources what happens now?
Speaker 3 (06:17):
We did not get to that point, you know.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
I I was trying to get a story in and
out as quick as I could.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
It was a race against the.
Speaker 5 (06:24):
Clock and a race against every other outlet on Friday.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
I think you're going to see that just that's very
publicly been unfolding over the past couple of days. Zelenski
did an interview before my piece even published with Brett
Baer talking about you know what he wants and Jadie
Dance is going to take to Sean Hannity tonight to
talk about this. Mark Rubio went on CNN with Caitlyn
(06:48):
Collins and so what happens next, I actually think will
unfold rather publicly, and you know that will be where
you can get your information, luckily, is from straight from
these administration smiles.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Yeah, it sounds like the Trump administration is willing to
further the talks. It sounds like everything's not dead right now,
and that should be a good thing for Ukraine, for
America for everybody, because it means that Donald the only
person that matters is Donald Trump at this point, and
it sounds like he has at least moved past this,
(07:21):
that he blew up, he set his piece, and that
he's ready for some type of deal. But I'm not
sure if all the rest of the world is ready
for that yet, because it sounds like Europe is trying
to take over the entire deal at this point. But
your reporting has been wonderful in The Daily Caller, and
I'm so glad you're here on the show. Reagan Reese,
(07:44):
White House correspondent for The Daily Caller and Independent Women's
Foreign visiting fellow Reagan again, thanks for your time. I'll
talk to you next week.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Yeah, of course, thank you,
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