Trump Putin Summit Drama Rubio Slams Reporter as Zelensky Clash Sparks Global Tensions

Secretary of State Marco Rubio clashed with Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan on Sunday, accusing her of pushing a “stupid media narrative” during a heated exchange over Ukraine.

“You know there is concern from the Europeans that President Zelensky is going to be bullied into signing something away. That’s why you have these European leaders coming as backup tomorrow,” Brennan said, before Rubio cut in.

“That is not true,” Rubio snapped, speaking over her. “They’re not coming here tomorrow to keep Zelensky from being bullied”, reported Fox News.

The row came after President Donald Trump hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska for a much anticipated summit aimed at ending the war in Ukraine. The conflict, triggered by Russia’s full-scale invasion on 24 February 2022, has left an estimated two million people dead, including both military and civilian losses on both sides.

Putin had already taken Crimea and backed separatists in eastern Ukraine back in 2014. Trump, who frequently insists the war would never have happened if he had been president, has been campaigning on the promise he could end it on “day one.”

Despite the hype, the Alaska summit did not deliver a ceasefire. Both sides said progress had been made and promised to meet again. Trump has since arranged talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and several European leaders to go over what was discussed with Putin and decide the next steps. He has also floated the idea of a trilateral meeting with himself, Putin and Zelensky in the same room, hoping it could pave the way for a peace deal.

Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, claimed meaningful concessions were reached. “We agreed on much more robust security guarantees, the Russians agreed on enshrining legislatively language that they would attest to not attempting to take any more land from Ukraine after a peace deal, where they would attest to not violating any European borders,” Witkoff said, according to AP News.

But things turned ugly in Washington last week during an Oval Office meeting between Trump, Zelensky and Vice President J.D. Vance. Zelensky openly mocked the idea of negotiating with Putin, asking, “What kind of diplomacy, JD, you are speaking about?” The remark triggered a furious row.

Trump erupted: “We gave you, through this stupid president, $350 billion. We gave you military equipment… If you didn’t have our military equipment, this war would have been over in two weeks… you don’t have the cards.”

The argument ended with Zelensky storming out of Washington early. A minerals deal that was meant to be signed on the trip was left hanging, though it was later ratified.

Rubio pushed back on Brennan’s suggestion that Zelensky was at risk of being bullied into a deal. He insisted the White House and Ukraine have held constant talks despite the infamous Oval Office row. “We had one meeting with Putin and like a dozen meetings with Zelensky… They’re not coming here tomorrow to keep Zelensky from being bullied.

They are coming here because we’ve been working with the Europeans. We talked to them last week… The President talked to these leaders as early as Thursday… This is such a stupid media narrative,” Rubio said.