By Kit Maher and Kevin Liptak, CNN
Vice President JD Vance speaks during a meeting with President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the Oval Office on February 28, 2025. Photo: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images via CNN Newsource
Campaigning in Pennsylvania last September, JD Vance seemed to strike at an unlikely political foe: the besieged president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, who'd spent most of the previous two years being hailed by Western leaders as a hero.
"You know what I wish Zelensky would do when he comes to the United States of America?" Vance asked his rally audience. "Say thank you to the people of Pennsylvania and everybody else."
The crowd in Pennsylvania responded with hearty cheers. The future vice president had struck a nerve.
Five months later, the moment seems prescient. A perceived lack of gratitude on the part of Zelensky is precisely what Vance seized on Friday, this time in the Oval Office, setting off an explosive rupture in ties between Washington and Kyiv and charting an unknown course for the future of the conflict.
In reality, Zelensky has repeatedly thanked the United States and its leaders for supporting Ukraine.
Yet for Vance, sitting on the gold brocade couch across from Zelensky, the moment thrust him to the forefront of an administration in which he had so far been relegated to supporting player. CNN previously reported that Vance has stepped forward in a more prominent way in recent weeks, asserting his role within the administration as Trump's "Swiss army knife."
Friday's Oval Office meeting amounted to a sudden real-life manifestation of Vance's combative online persona, one that was quickly embraced by President Donald Trump's team.
At the same time, Vance's interjection into the meeting nearly 40 minutes after it began generated questions about just how impromptu his rebuke really was.
"It smacks of an ambush, that JD Vance knew what he was doing," Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who met earlier Friday with Zelensky, said after the explosive Oval Office meeting. "He probably anticipated Trump would rise to the bait, so to speak, and that Zelensky was basically laying out the betrayal and the dishonesty of Putin," the Connecticut senator said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
White House officials insist there was no ambush planned on Zelensky inside the Oval Office, pointing to the signing of an agreement on rare-earth minerals - complete with a long wooden table for the signatories - aides had planned for later in the day.
Instead, they say Trump and Vance both felt disrespected by their Ukrainian guest, who pressed for American security guarantees even as the visit was meant to be centered on the rare-earths pact.
An administration source told CNN that "nobody expected the meeting to play out as it did" and expressed surprise at Zelensky's approach.
Vance's role in the argument followed him Saturday to Vermont, where protesters - some waving Ukrainian flags - lined the sidewalk awaiting his motorcade's arrival at Sugarbush Resort for a family trip. One person waved a "GO SKI IN RUSSIA TRAITOR" sign, while another poster read, "SHAME ON YOU VANCE."
Trump and his aides, however, enthusiastically heralded the vice president's combatting performance.
Friday night, the White House Instagram account posted a photo prominently featuring Vance firmly pointing his hand toward Zelensky.
"Do you think that is respectful to come to the Oval Office of the United States of America and attack the administration that is trying to prevent the destruction of your country?" the post read, quoting Vance.
Highlighted in red: "Have you said thank you once?"
While Vance has been in the Oval Office for other foreign leaders' visits, including with French President Emmanuel Macron earlier last week, he remained largely an observer, sitting back on the yellow couch with his hands folded in his lap.
In Trump's first Cabinet meeting, it was billionaire Elon Musk - who has generated far more attention than Vance as he slashes through the federal bureaucracy - whom Trump allowed to speak for about six minutes.
Vance, by contrast, spoke for just 36 seconds, when Trump punted a question to him about what concessions he'd like to see from Putin.
"Great, you gave me the hardest question, sir," Vance said during the Wednesday meeting. "We're not going to do the negotiation in public in front of the American media. He's going to do it in private with the president of Russia, with the president of Ukraine and with other leaders."
Turning next to address the media, Vance used the rest of his brief moment to criticize the press and flatter his boss.
"Every single time the president engages in diplomacy, you guys preemptively accuse him of conceding to Russia. He hasn't conceded anything to anyone. He's doing the job of a diplomat, and he of course is the 'diplomat in chief' as the president of the United States," he said, before the meeting moved on.
Before Friday, Vance's most prominent event since taking office occurred 4,000 miles from the White House.
In a speech that shocked the Munich Security Conference last month, Vance lambasted European politicians, claiming they are suppressing free speech, losing control of immigration and refusing to work with hard-right parties in government. Later, he met with the leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany party, which has been courting the Trump administration. A Vance official said over the course of his trip overseas, the vice president met with the leaders of each major German political party.
Vance's speech in Germany, his defense of Trump's diplomatic efforts during the Cabinet meeting and his accusations of ingratitude on the campaign trail all merged into Friday's Oval Office debacle.
After a tense back-and-forth with Zelensky, Vance ultimately struck on the same argument he made as a candidate.
"Offer some words of appreciation for the United States of America," Vance said, gesturing his hand toward Trump, "and the president of the United States of America, who is trying to save your country."
The extraordinary moment displayed a new side of Trump and Vance's relationship, as the pair appeared to team up against Zelensky in real time.
"Please, you think that if you speak very loudly about the war -" Zelensky said.
Jumping to Vance's defense, Trump said, "He's not speaking loudly."
There was a moment, though, that Trump took a different view from Vance, after the vice president scolded Zelensky for litigating disagreements in front of the press.
"Just say thank you -" Vance said.
"I said it a lot of times to the American people," Zelensky said.
"Accept that there are disagreements and let's go litigate those rather than trying to fight it out in front of the American media when you're wrong," Vance said.
Trump piped up, "But you see, I think it's good for the American people to see what's going on. I think it's very important. That's why I kept this going so long."
After wrapping the bilateral meeting, Trump said it would make "great television."
As reporters were eventually escorted out of the room, Vance gave Trump two approving pats on his arm.
- CNN
