President Donald Trump appeared to issue a nine-word remark to a member of staff moments before meeting Republican senators during the third week of the government shutdown.
In live footage from the Oval Office, the commander-in-chief was captured signing several documents before leaning towards the camera and seemingly making a joking comment to what is believed to be a staffer.
Speaking exclusively with the Daily Express U.S., lip reader Nicola Hickling suggests the president said: “I am talking to you right, you listen to me.”
The president allegedly went on to say: “That’s why. This one is not a condition, it’s a warning,” before stepping out of shot.
It comes just days after a lip reader also revealed Trump’s three-word outburst at wife Melania as he went into a meltdown on board Marine One. The Rose Garden confrontation erupted as the White House abandoned arrangements for the Russian and American presidents to hold another face-to-face meeting in Europe, whilst Trump pursues efforts to bring the Ukrainian conflict to a close, reports the Express US.
Reports suggest the decision came after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, which led Rubio to determine the two nations have “divergent expectations” regarding how to conclude the war in Ukraine, White House sources informed CNN.
A White House official subsequently told The Independent there are “no plans” for the two world leaders to meet personally in the near term, following a “productive call” between the two diplomats that made an in-person summit “not necessary.”
Trump had revealed plans for the gathering in Budapest, Hungary, “within two weeks or so” on Friday, after his telephone conversation with Putin prior to his White House discussions with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about a possible arms exchange.
The US leader suggested that Putin implored him to prevent the arms deal after floating the concept, which would see American Tomahawk long-range cruise missiles traded for Ukrainian drones to replenish the nation’s depleted weapons reserves. Despite the failure of Washington and Kyiv to reach an agreement on the missiles, Zelensky remains hopeful that a deal is still possible.
He believes Putin is “afraid” of Kyiv acquiring long-range missiles amid its attrition operation deep within Russian territory.
The summit’s location would have posed a significant challenge for Putin due to the European Union’s blanket ban on Russian travel through its airspace. Earlier this week, Polish authorities threatened to arrest Putin and hand him over to the International Criminal Court, which has accused him of committing war crimes, if he flew through their airspace.
Hungary is currently trying to withdraw from the ICC, but it is unlikely they would have cooperated regardless, as Hungarian President Viktor Orban is one of Putin’s closest allies in the E.U. The two leaders last met for a summit in Anchorage, Alaska, in August.
The cancellation of the meeting comes as the war in Ukraine nears its fourth anniversary in February following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Sergey Lavrov issued his own statement regarding a potential end to the conflict.
“Russia will NOT agree to a ceasefire until the root causes of the conflict in Ukraine are resolved,” stated Foreign Minister Lavrov. However, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov dismissed these claims on Tuesday, stating, “It’s incorrect to say the meeting was delayed” because “no agreement existed to begin with.
“You can’t postpone something that was never agreed upon,” Ryabkov told reporters in Moscow. “We had no understanding of the timing or the place for such a contact. The idea exists, of course, and it’s an important one – but it requires preparation. That’s what we’re doing.”
This follows our exclusive revelation where a lip reader deciphered Zelensky’s 8-word message to Trump, indicating his distress.