Former Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul spent three minutes on MSNBC bemoaning a Friday Oval Office meeting where President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance clashed with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, calling it “depressing.”
Trump cancelled a joint press conference with Zelenskyy after he and Vance argued with the Ukrainian president during the contentious meeting prior to the planned signing of a minerals deal that had been worked out Wednesday. McFaul aimed particular blame at Vance for the outcome of the meeting, accusing him of siding with Russian President Vladimir Putin and saying that he should be sidelined by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“This is so depressing to watch. You know, our vice president, he won the election. I congratulated them, All the power to them. He’s got his ideas, but I just wish we could get this into a more professional channel,” McFaul said. “Honestly, he obviously does not know what’s happening in Ukraine. He is propagating things that are not true. I speak to Ukrainians every day. I speak to soldiers every day. They have held the line there and if the vice president wants to see true, heroic, heroic efforts, he should go and judge for himself, just like President Zelenskyy said.”
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“But the real thing is we need to get the vice president out of the negotiations here,” McFaul continued. “He is not an expert on these issues. We need the secretary of state to reassert himself and to take charge of these negotiations. Otherwise, we’re not going to be helping here and I want to be crystal clear about this. Do we understand what’s going on here? You know, when Hitler invaded Poland, we didn’t take the side of Hitler. When the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. We didn’t take the side of the Soviets. When Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait and annexed Kuwait, we didn’t take the side of Saddam. This is a historic turning point in terms of American foreign policy, where instead of siding with the Democrats, the president is alluding, he wants to side with the autocrat, the dictator, Putin and that is not in America’s long-term national interest.”
Trump campaigned on seeking an end to the war that started when Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, citing the number of those killed in the three-year conflict. Trump also rejected the idea that he aligned himself with Putin, stating during the meeting, “I’m not aligned with Putin, I’m not aligned with anybody, I’m aligned with the United States of America.”
“This will lead to a disaster. We will lose our allies in Europe, in Asia, we will embolden people like Xi Jinping, and that’s why this is so tragic to me, and I hope the president understands and that he is not with the American people on this,” McFaul said. “A poll last week, the Quinnipiac poll said 81% of Americans don’t trust Putin. I hope the president understands that he is really out of touch with even his own base. When he sides with Putin against the democratically elected president of Ukraine, whose country was invaded by Vladimir Putin. There should be no ambiguity about that. He’s the same guy seizing, annexing their territory, kidnaping their children.”
“America should be on the side of right, both because it’s the right thing to do, but it’s also in our long-term national security interests and I hope the professionals around the president and I’m calling on the secretary of state in particular, because he knows what I’m saying is to be true,” McFaul continued. “They’ve got to wrestle control of this and get this back in a channel where the professionals are negotiating, and we’re not just negotiating on the fly in a press spray where facts don’t seem to matter.”
The United States sent Ukraine over $174 billion in aid from February 2022 to January 2025, including M1 Abrams tanks, MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missiles, long-range missiles and M864 Dual-Purpose Improved Conventional Munition artillery shells.
During the meeting, Vance said the Trump administration was engaged in diplomatic efforts, prompting Zelenskyy to complain that Russia failed to abide by previous cease-fires and that the United States failed to stop Putin. The Ukrainian president was asked to leave the White House following the meeting.
“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,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “It’s amazing what comes out through emotion, and I have determined that President Zelenskyy is not ready for Peace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations. I don’t want advantage, I want PEACE. He disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for Peace.”
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