Some comments made by the US President in an unguarded moment with French President Emmanuel Macron were picked up on a microphone
Donald Trump was caught on a ‘hot mic’ revealing his real thoughts about Vladimir Putin.
The moment came at the top of a multilateral meeting between Trump, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky and a group of European leaders including Keir Starmer.
At the beginning of the meeting, as people were still milling around, he appeared to be speaking to French President Emmanuel Macron.
He was heard on an open microphone saying: “I think he wants to make a deal for me.
“Do you understand? As crazy as it sounds.”
It comes after the US rolled out the red carpet for Russia’s ruthless dictator at a summit in Alaska.
Earlier, Trump hinted US troops could be involved in keeping the peace in Ukraine if a truce can be reached.
In a Q&A with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office, the US President declined to rule out the possibility of deploying troops to the country.
And he indicated it would be a matter for discussion at this afternoon’s crunch talks with European leaders.
Asked if he would rule out such a deployment, the president said, “We’ll let you know that, maybe, later today.
“We’re meeting with seven great leaders of great countries, also, and we’ll be talking about that.”
“They’ll all be involved,” he added. “When it comes to security, there’s going to be a lot of help.”
Asked about “Nato-like protection” for Ukraine – an idea that had been floated by his envoy Steve Witkoff – Trump said the US would “help them out with that”, referring to European leaders.
Trump said: “I don’t know if you define it that way, but Nato-like? I mean, we’re going to give, we have people waiting in another room right now, they’re all here, from Europe.
“Biggest people in Europe.
“And they want to give protection, they feel very strongly about it, and we’ll help them out with that.”
Hopes for the meetings had been gloomy after Trump posted on Truth Social this morning a string of demands for Ukraine – which lined up with many of Russia’s demands.
They included “forgetting” about Nato membership, and ruling out returning Crimea from Russia to Ukraine.
But the Oval Office appearance went smoothly – and vastly less eventfully than their disastrous last White House meeting.
Trump indicated that US troops being involved in peacekeeping efforts was on the table for discussion – as was a “NATO style” security guarantee.
Both Trump and Zelensky said they were ready for a trilateral meeting with Russia’s ruthless dictator, Vladimir Putin.
Asked by a reporter if it is the “end of the road” for U.S. support for Ukraine if no deal is struck, Trump said its “never the end of the road.”
“People are being killed and we want to stop that. So I would not say it’s the end of the road,” Trump said as Zelenskyy sat next to him shaking his head at the question. He added that there is a “good chance” of the ending the war through these meetings.
“I know the president, I know myself, and I believe Vladimir Putin wants to see it end,” Trump said.
Trump said he was going to speak to Putin as soon as this afternoon’s meetings are over.