Meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy for the first time in five years, former President Donald Trump complained about his 2019 impeachment and said if re-elected he would work to end the Russia-Ukraine war with a deal “that’s good for both sides.”
“We’re going to work very much with both parties to try and get this settled and get it worked out,” Trump said, standing next to Zelenskyy while speaking to a small group of reporters ahead of their closed-door meeting. “It has to end. At some point, it has to end. He’s gone through hell. His country has gone through hell.”
Trump said the two leaders “have a very good relationship, and I also have a very good relationship, as you know, with [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin.” Zelenskyy added that he hoped they would continue to have a good relationship.
“It takes two to tango, and we will,” Trump responded.
The former president ranted about his 2019 impeachment as a consequence of the now-infamous phone call he had with Zelenskyy in July of that year.
During the July phone call, Trump asked Zelenskyy about opening an investigation into President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden. Various officials, including the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, Bill Taylor, said that Trump held up aid to Ukraine over his demands to have its government investigate the Bidens.
“It was a hoax, just a Democrat hoax, which we won,” Trump said of the impeachment effort, with Zelenskyy standing by his side Friday. Trump has long denied wrongdoing and was acquitted in his Senate trial.
He claimed that Zelenskyy said that Trump did nothing wrong during their phone call, saying that the Ukrainian president “said it loud and clear and the impeachment hoax died right there.” He praised Zelenskyy for being “like a piece of steel.”
Speaking briefly, Zelenskyy said he believes he and Trump have a common view that Ukraine has to prevail against Russia and acknowledged the importance of the U.S. election. “We understand that after November … we hope that the strength of the United States will be very strong,” he said.
It was the first time the two leaders had met in person since Trump’s impeachment. They last met in person when Trump was president, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in Sept. 2019.
Trump and Zelenskyy last spoke by phone in July when the Ukrainian leader congratulated the former president on his GOP nomination for the presidency and condemned the assassination attempt on Trump earlier that month.
Their meeting comes amid concerns about the future of Ukraine and its defense against Russian aggression and how the outcome of the U.S. election will greatly impact the war’s fate, and amid disagreements in Congress about whether to continue providing aid to Ukraine.
