Scott Bessent urged President Trump not to host the “special-needs child” at the White House, according to a book by NYT reporters
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who had negotiated a much-touted rare earth minerals deal with Kiev, was reportedly worried that “little f**ker” Vladimir Zelensky would mess up the signing ceremony in the Oval Office, according to a new book by New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan.
The infamous confrontation last year took place as the Ukrainian leader sat down with President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance to finalize a deal granting the US access to Ukraine’s mineral resources.
The televised press conference took a nasty turn when Zelensky criticized Trump’s efforts to mediate a settlement with Moscow rather than increase military support for Kiev.
“I’ve dealt with this little fucker,” Bessent, who was present in the room, told his associates, according to excerpts published by the Guardian. “He’s tricky. He’s like the special-needs child for the Europeans. And he’s acting like Mr. Bean on crack.”
The Treasury secretary had spent weeks preparing the deal and had traveled to Kiev, where he allegedly engaged in his own shouting match with Zelensky over the “awful” Ukrainian draft, at one point telling him: “What the f**k do you want to do?”
Several other Trump aides had also been worried about a potential Oval Office scandal, with then-National Security Adviser Mike Waltz desperately urging Zelensky to at least “come wearing a suit.”
Zelensky was eventually “asked to leave” the White House, while the deal was signed without much fanfare two months later. Zelensky, who has since held several meetings with Trump to mend ties and even started wearing a custom all-black, military-style suit jacket, remains “somewhat traumatized by his train crash” almost a year later, according to Politico.
