We all know Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is a
savage. He outmaneuvers and outspeaks Democrats at congressional
hearings, and he’s now a master of sizing up foreign leaders, too. A new
book reportedly revealed the names he used to describe the Ukrainian
President, Volodymyr Zelensky,
whom he advised Trump should not be
hosted in the Oval Office. This was before the infamous February 28,
2025, meeting, where Zelensky was bulldozed by Trump and Vice President
JD Vance. Bessent called this event a diplomatic own goal for Ukraine
(via The Guardian):
Scott Bessent, the US treasury secretary, advised Donald
Trump not to host Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office, having called
the Ukrainian president a “little fucker”, a “special-needs child” and
“Mr Bean on crack”, according to a new book.
The suggestion that a
US cabinet official described a world leader in such terms is included
in Regime Change, a blockbusting account of the second Trump
administration by New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan
Swan, set to be published worldwide on Tuesday.
News of Bessent’s
alleged remarks may embarrass the Trump administration, although the
meeting that did take place on 28 February 2025 proved outright
disastrous, as Trump and JD Vance blasted Zelenskyy for not being
grateful for aid in his fight against Russian invaders, and for not
wearing a suit.
The issue of aid to Ukraine remains at the fore, and was discussed at the G7 summit in France earlier this week.
“Several
Trump aides had been worried” about the potential for a blow-up when
Zelenskyy came to the White House, ostensibly to seal a minerals deal
drafted by Bessent, Swan and Haberman write. Then-national security
adviser Mike Waltz “tried – unsuccessfully – to get the message across
that Zelenskyy should come wearing a suit”, they continue. “Bessent had
strongly recommended to Trump that he not even allow Zelenskyy into the
White House before he had signed” the deal.
“‘I’ve dealt with this
little fucker,’ Bessent would say to associates about Zelenskyy,”
according to the book. “‘He’s tricky. He’s like the special-needs child
for the Europeans. And he’s acting like Mr Bean on crack.”
[…]
Zelenskyy
did come, and Bessent was in the room as Vance carpeted their visitor.
“Others present could see that Vance was steadily turning red,” Haberman
and Swan write, as Zelenskyy’s insistence on pushing for security
guarantees “began to sound to Vance like impertinence and ingratitude”.
Things went south from there.
After
the disastrous meeting, Bessent told Bloomberg that Zelenskyy scored
“one of the great diplomatic own goals”, adding: “I was shocked, shocked
that President Zelenskyy would come into the Oval Office, behave like
this, speak to the president, speak to the vice-president, but more
importantly, disrespect the American people like this.”
“Mr. Bean on crack”—that’s amazing.
He's just TOO GOOD at this.
Scott Bessent enrages Rep Larson by simply directing "war" questions to the Secretary of War. pic.twitter.com/ytRDnhO5Ng
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