President Donald Trump left members of the White House Press Corps speechless when he asked them whether they would consider a free lunch at Mar-a-Lago a bribe.
The commander-in-chief sat down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at his Florida estate on Sunday to discuss a 20-point plan which could end almost four years of war between Russia and Ukraine.
At one point during the meeting between the two world leaders and their advisors -including US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner – the American president turned his attention to the press.
‘I think you could sit outside and have some food,’ Trump told reporters at the scene.
‘Would you like to have some food, or would you consider that a bribe, and therefore you cannot write honestly, or therefore you have to write a bad story?’ he then asked, earning some chuckles from those gathered around a long, rectangular table.
Still, Trump pressed the reporters for an answer.
‘Would you like something to eat at this time, yes or no?’ he pressed. ‘You could speak.’
When one reporter then replied, ‘Yes sir,’ Trump ordered one of his staffers to ‘tell the chef to serve them a little lunch.’
President Donald Trump left members of the White House Press Corps speechless when he asked them whether they would consider a free lunch at Mar-a-Lago a bribe on Sunday
The commander-in-chief sat down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and their advisors at his Florida estate to discuss a 20-point plan which could end almost four years of war between Russia and Ukraine
The kind gesture prompted several people in the room to thank the press for their work – but Trump was not done throwing jabs at the press.
‘That should guarantee you good stories, but it won’t,’ he told his advisors. ‘It’ll only get worse. They’ll go out of their way to make them worse.’
Trump has been highly critical of the American media, repeatedly lashing out at journalists for their questions.
He once told CBS White House Correspondent Nancy Cordes she was a ‘stupid person’ for questioning the federal government’s vetting of an Afghani man accused of shooting two National Guard members in Washington DC.
Another time he told Bloomberg reporter Catherine Lucey to be ‘quiet piggy’ after she asked about files related to sex pest Jeffrey Epstein, and Trump once called a New York Times reporter ‘ugly.’
The president even admonished a reporter who asked about security guarantees in Ukraine on Sunday, despite his offer for lunch.
‘What a stupid question,’ Trump fumed. ‘Nobody even knows what the security agreement is going to state. There will be a security agreement. It will be a strong agreement. The European nations are very much involved.’
Donald Trump has greeted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the entrance to his Mar-a-Lago estate ahead of a highly-anticipated meeting between the two
Trump had been celebrating the success of the peace talks with Zelensky at the time, claiming they are ‘very close’ to striking an agreement on all but ‘one or two thorny issues.’
Under America’s 20-point plan, the United States would guarantee security for Ukraine from future invasions by Moscow – primarily through Ukrainian membership in the EU, and maintaining a peacetime army of 800,000 troops funded by Western allies.
Zelensky had earlier said that the proposal is ‘about 90 percent ready.’
Still, both he and Trump admitted on Sunday that they have been struggling to find middle ground on some of the most difficult issues – including future ownership of the Donbas region, a Ukrainian territory which it has been fighting to protect throughout the war.
‘This is very difficult question,’ Zelensky said when asked about Donbas.
‘You know our position… we have to respect our law and our people. We respect the territory which we control. And of course, our attitude is very clear.’
Trump countered that ‘some of that land has been taken’ and ‘may be up for grabs, but it may be taken over the next period of the number of months.
‘They have been very brave. They fought very hard and continue to fight very hard and do tremendous damage, but Russia would like to see it end, and Ukraine would like to see it end,’ he said.
‘We could be very close. There are one or two very thorny issues, very tough issues, but I think we’re doing very well. We’ve made a lot of progress today, but really we’ve made it over the last month. This is not a one day process deal, this very complicated stuff.’
The two world leaders claimed on Sunday that they are ‘very close’ to striking an agreement on all but ‘one or two thorny issues’
Trump said he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin will come to the negotiating table
Trump was also asked about what a timeline for the end of the war could look like, but he noted that there are still several hurdles on the road to peace.
‘In a few weeks, we will know one way or the other,’ he said. ‘We could have something where one item that you’re not thinking about is a big item and breaks it up.’
He admitted ‘it has been a very difficult negotiation, very detailed.’
But he offered a grim dose of reality for the future if the deal falls through, warning: ‘They keep fighting and they keep dying.’
The US president had originally hoped that he could solve the Russia-Ukraine conflict quickly once he retook office last year, but incessant bombings have only continued – leading Trump to express frustrations with both Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin at times.
In order to now secure a peace deal, Trump said he had a ‘very good and very productive telephone call with President Putin of Russia’ and was in ‘the final stages of talking’ with each president.’
‘We’re in final stages of talking… It will either end, or it’s going to go on for a long time and millions of additional people are going to be killed. Nobody wants that,’ he said.
The president added that he believes Putin is ready for a ceasefire. ‘There are too many people dying, and I think both presidents want to make a deal,’ he said.
‘I do believe that we have the makings of a deal that is fit for Ukraine, fit for everybody,’ Trump continued. ‘There is nothing more important. I’ve settled eight wars, and this is the most difficult one.’
The remarks came just one day after Russia launched a barrage of missiles on Kyiv, killing at least one person and injuring 20 others. Emergency services are pictured at the scene after a Russian attack in the Ukrainian capital on December 23
A Ukrainian military member walking in a heavily damaged residential area of the frontline town of Kostyantynivka, in the Donetsk region
But at his press conference alongside Zelensky, Trump refused to go into any further detail about his discussions with Putin.
‘We weren’t talking about the weather, we weren’t talking about what a beautiful day it is in Palm Beach, Florida,’ Trump said.
‘Russia wants to see Ukraine succeed,’ he claimed.
‘It sounds a little strange but President Putin was very generous in his feeling toward Ukraine succeeding, including supplying energy, electricity and other things at very low prices.’
Yet his remarks came just one day after Russia launched a barrage of missiles on Kyiv, killing at least one person and injuring 20 others, according to the mayor of the Ukrainian capital.
Zelensky said his only priority is ending the war. A woman is pictured carrying a dog in her arms in Kyiv on December 23
Zelensky said his country needs more air defenses, weaponry and money. Graves of fallen Ukrainian soldiers were decorated with Christmas trees and New Year’s decorations at the Lychakiv Military Cemetery on the day before Christmas Eve, in Lviv
Writing on X on Saturday ahead of the summit, Zelensky said: ‘For us, priority number one – or the only priority – is ending the war. For us, the priority is peace.
‘We need to be strong at the negotiating table. To be strong, we need the support of the world: Europe and the United States.’
Zelensky said his country needs more air defenses, weaponry and money.
‘If the whole world – Europe and America – is on our side, together we will stop Putin,’ he argued.
Zelensky added that he started the day with a ‘detailed phone call’ with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, where they discussed ‘preparations for the meeting with President Trump’ and ‘consequences of Russian strikes‘.
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called Europe ‘the main obstacle to peace’ while praising Trump’s efforts to secure peace.
‘After the change of administration in the US, Europe and the European Union have become the main obstacle to peace,’ Lavrov said in an interview with the Russian newswire Tass published on Sunday.
