VLADIMIR Putin poured poison in Donald Trump’s ear about Volodymyr Zelensky the moment the Ukrainian president was sworn in, his ex-aide told The Sun.
White House chief John Bolton listened in to a bombshell call between the US and Russian leaders after Zelensky took office in 2019.
APTrump shakes hands with Putin in Helsinki in July 2018[/caption]
AFPPutin, pictured in January, spoke to Trump on the phone after Zelensky was elected[/caption]
GettyThe national security adviser John Bolton watches on during one of Trump’s meetings in July 2019[/caption]
And he believes Putin’s twisted words may have sown the seeds for Trump‘s blistering attack last week – in which he derided Ukraine’s hero leader as a “dictator” and a “modestly successful comedian”.
Bolton, who served as Trump’s National Security Advisor from April 2018 to September 2019, said Putin “belittled” Zelensky on the call.
He claimed much of what Putin said appeared to reflect in Trump’s stunning blast last week.
The 76-year-old veteran Republican has been openly critical of Trump since he left office – but Donald has also gone on the attack, branding him a “very dumb person” and a “warmonger”.
Bolton told The Sun: “Shortly after Zelensky was sworn in, Putin belittled him to Trump in a phone conversation in ways that I think really affected Trump.
“Putin said well we know this guy’s comedy shows on Russian television, and he’s okay as a comedian, and just implying he wasn’t up to the job of being President.”
Trump last week shocked Western allies by unleashing jibes against Zelensky on his Truth Social page.
The wartime leader and European chiefs were left reeling after being iced out of initial peace talks between Washington and Moscow to end the three-year war in Ukraine.
But Trump was left furious by Zelensky’s annoyance and apparent stubbornness – and issued a ferocious outburst calling him a “dictator” and accused him of having “talked the US into a war that couldn’t be won”.
He raged the war “never had to start” and said Ukraine could “never be able to settle” the conflict without “the US and Trump”.
Bolton believes Trump’s scalding remarks last week could be traced back to the call he had with Putin six years ago.
Bolton told The Sun: “The business about being a dictator, that Zelensky is a mediocre comedian – I was on the phone, I heard Putin basically say exactly that.”
Trump has since seemingly climbed down from the bombshell jibes – with him due to meet Zelensky today at the White House to sign off a deal on minerals that could provide the bedrock for peace talks.
Don also yesterday appeared to ease his criticism of Zelensky, joking with reporters “did I say that?” when asked about calling the 47-year-old a dictator.
He also took a softer stance on the Ukraine war as he was love-bombed by UK Prime Minster Keir Starmer – but said he trusted Putin would “keep his word”.
Bolton told The Sun that Putin’s call meant the US president and Zelensky’s relationship “didn’t get off to a very good start”.
He said the pair’s relationship had a “problematic beginning” that still hasn’t recovered.
Bolton added: “Although Zelensky’s tried for the last six months to develop a relationship, I just think it’s an uphill climb.”
Trump & Zelensky’s personal feud
DONALD Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky’s fiery feud ad turning the world upside down – and the pair have a bitter history.
2016 – Zelensky takes aim
The first time the pair are believed to have referenced one another came on a Ukrainian talk show featuring Zelesnky – then a star comedian – back in 2016.
Speaking about the lead up to that years US election, Zelensky made a comedic dig at the business tycoon turned Republican favourite.
He told TV viewers on the show: “Hillary won a confident victory in the debates, but considering that Donald Trump is the founder of the Miss World beauty contest, defeat in an intellectual competition should not upset him.”
2019 – Trump’s troubles
One of the first times the pair spoke came in 2019 as Trump phoned up Zelensky after he won the Ukrainian election.
Trump congratulated him before adding “you will do a great job”.
But his clear hostility towards Zelensky is also often traced back to the same year.
The Republican landed himself in trouble as he was impeached over allegations he withheld almost $400million in US security assistance to Kyiv unless it complied with Trump’s requests.
2019 – Bizarre panto skit
And in the aftermath of the row in 2019 – Zelensky was treated to a skit featuring Trump playing piano with his genitals on a special New Year’s Eve show.
The team from Kvartal 95 had Zelensky along as a guest to the event where they had a Trump impersonator take to the stage.
The short clip shows Trump on a video call to Zelensky as he passionately says: “I don’t like a lot of words, I like concrete actions.”
2020 – Trump’s X-rated rant
At the end of his first term in office, Trump reportedly ripped into Zelensky and Ukraine.
Former US National Security Advisor John Bolton said over five years ago that Trump wasn’t Zelensky’s biggest fan when he first became president.
Bolton quoted Trump as saying: “I don’t want to have any f***ing thing to do with Ukraine.
“They f***ing attacked me. I can’t understand why… They tried to f*** me. They’re corrupt. I’m not f***ing with them.”
As well as Putin’s belittling, a sour taste was likely left in Trump’s mouth after a phone call between the leaders in 2019 became the basis for Trump’s first impeachment
Trump in 2019 asked Zelensky to investigate his rival Joe Biden in what turned into a political scandal and an impeachment.
His allies had stoked claims – that later turned out to be fabricated – that Biden had lobbied Ukraine to dismiss its top prosecutor to hinder an investigation into energy firm Burisma, of which his son Hunter sat on the board.
Bolton added: “Because of Covid and travel restrictions and the rest of it, there weren’t really many opportunities for Trump and Zelensky to get off that initial kind of problematic beginning.”
He said Putin has been always try to “play” Trump when it came to Ukraine.
Bolton said Trump didn’t talk about Zelensky “a lot” – and by the time he left his post in the White House the two leaders had never met.
He added: “Personally he [Trump] just didn’t care about Zelensky that much.
“But he felt that Zelensky should help him out [with investigating Biden] because he had asked him to.
“Zelensky was obviously very worried about it because he could see, or certainly his advisers could see the turmoil that was developing around the impeachment.”
Zelensky and Trump met in person for the first time in November 2019 in New York.
Bolton said Trump had felt pressured into releasing security assistance for Ukraine to the tune of $250million.
AFP or licensorsTrump and Zelensky during their first meeting in 2019[/caption]
APVolodymyr Zelensky was branded a ‘dictator’ by Trump[/caption]
EPATrump with Bolton (R) in New York in September 2018[/caption]
The military aid was approved by Congress but was withheld – with Democrats questioning whether it was to put pressure on Ukraine’s government to investigate Biden.
Bolton added: “Trump felt he had been pressured to release the security assistance, which was one of the last things I worked on.
“It was announced on September 11 that the security assistance would be sent and Trump didn’t like that because he thought he had basically been pressured into it.”
Bolton left his post as Washington’s national security adviser a day earlier after a 17-month working relationship with Trump that grew more and more intense.
They even disagreed on how they parted ways – with Trump claiming Bolton was fired and the ex-White House aide insisting he had resigned of his own accord.
Bolton and Trump notoriously clashed over how to handle major foreign policy challenges such as Iran, North Korea and Afghanistan.
Zelensky and Trump will meet later today at the White House – with hopes they will sign a deal on minerals worth some $500billion.
Ukraine hope the deal will ensure some US security gurantees as Trump opens up talks with Putin.
The US President has welcomed Russia back in from the cold as he tries to make good on his promise to end the war in 100 days.
European and Ukrainian leaders however raised concerns about dealing directly with the tyrannical Putin.
And both demanded they need to have a seat at the negotiating table.
It is feared a peace deal that is too kind to Putin could embolden him to make further attacks on Ukraine and Eastern Europe.
