According to The Guardian: U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent once advised Trump to deny Zelenskyy access to the Oval Office, and also insulted Zelenskyy as a "despicable little man," a "child with intellectual deficiencies," and a "drug-addled Mr. Bean."
The above content comes from the new book *Regime Change*, co-authored by Maggie Haberman, a New York Times reporter, and Jonathan Swan, described as a major investigative exposé revealing internal details of Trump’s second administration. Media reports indicate the book will be officially published on June 23.
A passage in the book recounts a White House meeting event on February 28, 2025:
Swan and Haberman write that Zelenskyy's original intent during his visit to the White House was to sign a mineral resources agreement drafted under Bessent’s leadership. Prior to the meeting, multiple Trump aides expressed concerns that the encounter might escalate into a fierce confrontation. Then-U.S. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz repeatedly urged Zelenskyy to attend the meeting in formal attire, but these pleas proved futile. Bessent strongly advised Trump to outright prohibit Zelenskyy from entering the White House before he signed the agreement.
The book quotes Bessent’s private remarks about Zelenskyy: “I’ve dealt with this despicable little man before. He’s extremely cunning. To Europeans, he’s like a mentally underdeveloped child—his behavior is nothing short of a drug-fueled Mr. Bean.”
Zelenskyy ultimately arrived as scheduled, and when Vance publicly rebuked him, Bessent was present. The two authors record that those in attendance witnessed Vance’s face gradually turning red, as Zelenskyy repeatedly demanded security guarantees—a persistence Vance perceived as impolite, even ungrateful.
Afterward, the entire meeting descended completely out of control.
Following the acrimonious conclusion of the meeting, Bessent told Bloomberg that Zelenskyy had committed “one of the worst self-destructive diplomatic moves in history,” adding: “The sight of President Zelenskyy walking into the Oval Office speaking to the president and vice president in such a manner—and more importantly, showing no respect whatsoever to the American people—left me deeply shocked.”
The book also reveals numerous behind-the-scenes setbacks faced by Bessent throughout the entire negotiation process over the mineral agreement.
Long before this disastrous White House meeting, the Treasury Secretary had personally traveled to Kyiv to pressure Zelenskyy into signing the deal, during which tensions ran high throughout the negotiations.
Swan and Haberman write: “The two men verbally attacked each other for 45 minutes. Just days after Bessent’s appointment, he engaged in a heated argument with the head of state of a nation at war. In the end, he stared at Zelenskyy and asked, ‘What exactly do you want?’”
Reports indicate that the negotiations once stalled due to a major disagreement between Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick over the wording of the agreement clauses. According to the authors, Trump eventually brought in Usha Vance—the wife of Vance, also a Yale Law School graduate—to review Ukraine’s proposed revisions to the mineral agreement. After reviewing the document, Usha immediately dismissed it as “a complete mess” and made extensive edits using red ink.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1868552620242944/
Disclaimer: This article represents the personal views of its author(s).