White House chief of staff regrets having cameras at contentious Zelenskyy-Trump Oval Office meeting: Report

By Yasin Gungor

ISTANBUL (AA) - The White House chief of staff said she regrets allowing cameras during President Donald Trump's contentious Oval Office meeting this February with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, according to a magazine article published Tuesday.

"If we had it to do over ... I wouldn't have cameras, because it was going to end that way," Susie Wiles told Vanity Fair, referring to the televised encounter where Trump and Vice President JD Vance sharply criticized the visiting leader.

Wiles claimed the confrontation resulted from "churlish" behavior by Zelenskyy and his team, beginning when he failed to attend a meeting in Kyiv with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to negotiate a mineral rights agreement.

"It just was a bad sort of sentiment all the way around. And I wouldn't say JD snapped, because he's too controlled for that. But I think he'd just had enough," she said.

The article, based on more than 10 interviews spanning this year, also detailed reported internal divisions over Russia-Ukraine policy, with Trump's team split on whether Russian President Vladimir Putin seeks complete control of Ukraine or would accept partial territorial gains.

"The experts think that if he could get the rest of (the eastern region of) Donetsk, then he would be happy," Wiles said in August, but noted Trump doubted Russian President Vladimir Putin's willingness to compromise: "Donald Trump thinks he wants the whole country."

She also reflected on Trump's relationship with Putin, recalling their Helsinki meeting in 2018, during Trump’s first term, where she observed "a real sort of friendship there, or at least an admiration," but added that recent phone calls have been "very mixed."

Following the article’s publication, Wiles lashed out on US social media company X, calling it "a disingenuously framed hit piece" that disregarded significant context and omitted positive comments about the president and team.

"I have been honored to work for (Trump) the better part of a decade," she wrote.

White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt defended Wiles, saying: "President Trump has no greater or more loyal advisor than Susie. The entire administration is grateful for her steady leadership and united fully behind her."