President Donald Trump postponed his lunch meeting with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky for a moment on Sunday to ask whether he could “bribe” a reporter by feeding him a hamburger.
The president joked about the pay-off while flanked by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and a number of other American and Ukrainian leaders at Mar-a-Lago. A Fox News broadcast captured Trump asking a male reporter off-camera if he would like a bite to eat while the officials dined.
“Would you like to have food, or would you consider that a bribe?” Trump asked. And therefore you could not write honestly, or therefore you have to write a bad story.”
Trump started to smirk as he made his quip, and his son-in-law Jared Kushner appeared to get a kick out of the question while sitting at the end of the table.
“Would you like something to eat at this time? Yes or no? You can speak,” Trump continued.
“Yes sir,” the reporter told him.
That drew a big grin from Hegseth. Trump then signaled to Communications Advisor Margo Martin “to take him outside and tell them to serve him a little lunch.”
White House Advisor Stephen Miller did not seem to find the whole thing amusing, with the cameras catching a rather blank stare on his face as it panned back to capture the whole room.
“That should guarantee good stories, but it won’t. They’ll only get worse,” Trump joshed, as members of the press were ushered out of the room.
He then faced Zelensky across from him at the table and mentioned something about a hamburger.
The light moment comes as Trump and Zelensky are meeting to discuss an end to the Russia-Ukraine War. Trump told reporters in front of Mar-a-Lago on Sunday there was “nothing more important” to him than ending the war. He also got upset with a “dumb question” from a journalist about security guarantees.
Their meeting comes after Zelensky shared an 20-point peace plan this week, which included security guarantees and a deal to change contested territories into a demilitarized free economic zone.
Trump also spoke with Russian leader Vladimir Putin before Zelensky arrived on Sunday. He told reporters in front of Mar-a-Lago that he planned on calling Putin back after the meeting to continue “pretty complex, but not that complex” negotiations.
Watch above.
