Awkward moment Trump stuns reporters into silence after asking if they would consider free lunch at Mar-a-Lago a bribe: ‘You can speak’

President Donald Trump remained speechless when he asked members of the White House Press Corps if they would accept a free lunch at Mar-a-Lago as a bribe.

The commander-in-chief met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at his Florida mansion on Sunday to discuss a 20-point plan that could end the nearly four-year war between Russia and Ukraine.

At one point during the meeting between the two world leaders and their advisors (including US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner), the American president turned his attention to the press.

“I think you can sit outside and have some food,” Trump told reporters at the scene.

‘Do you want some food, or do you consider it a bribe and therefore cannot write honestly, or are you forced to write a bad story?’ he then asked, eliciting chuckles from those gathered around a long, rectangular table.

Still, Trump pressed reporters for an answer.

‘Would you like to eat something at this time, yes or no?’ pressed. ‘You can talk.’

Later, when a reporter replied, ‘Yes sir,’ Trump ordered one of his staff to ‘tell the chef to serve them a small lunch.’

The commander-in-chief met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his advisers at his Florida mansion to discuss a 20-point plan that could end the nearly four-year war between Russia and Ukraine.

This kind gesture caused several people in the room to thank the press for their work; However, Trump was not satisfied with dealing harsh blows to the press.

“That guarantees you good stories, but it doesn’t guarantee it,” he told his advisors. ‘It’s going to get worse. They will do everything they can to make them worse.’

Trump has been highly critical of the American media and has repeatedly attacked journalists for their questions.

He once told CBS White House Correspondent Nancy Cordes that she was a “stupid person” who questioned the federal government’s investigation of an Afghan man accused of shooting two National Guard members in Washington, D.C.

Another time he told Bloomberg reporter Catherine Lucey to be a ‘quiet piggy’ after she asked about files on sex troublemaker Jeffrey Epstein, and Trump once described a New York Times reporter as ‘ugly’.

The president even admonished a reporter for asking about security guarantees in Ukraine on Sunday, despite the offer of lunch.

“What a stupid question,” Trump said. ‘Nobody even knows what the security agreement will mean. A security agreement will be made. It will be a strong agreement. European countries are very interested in this issue.’

Donald Trump greeted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the entrance of his Mar-a-Lago mansion ahead of the highly anticipated meeting between the two.

At the time, Trump was celebrating the success of peace talks with Zelensky, claiming they were ‘very close’ to reaching an agreement on all but ‘one or two thorny issues’.

Under America’s 20-point plan will guarantee US security against future invasions of Ukraine Moscow – primarily through Ukraine’s accession to the EU and the maintenance of a peacetime army of 800,000 soldiers financed by Western allies.

Zelensky had previously said the proposal was ‘about 90 percent ready’.

Yet on Sunday, both he and Trump admitted they were struggling to find middle ground on some of the thorniest issues, including the future ownership of the Donbas region, the Ukrainian territory he fought to preserve throughout the war.

“This is a very difficult question,” Zelensky said when asked about Donbas.

‘You know our situation… we must respect our laws and our people. We respect the territory we control. And of course our stance is very clear.’

Trump responded by saying that “some of the land has been seized” and that “it could be seized, but it could be seized in the next few months.”

‘They acted very bravely. “They fought so hard and they continue to do so much damage, but Russia wants to see this end, Ukraine wants to see this end,” he said.

‘We can be very close. There are a few very complicated, very difficult issues, but I think we are doing very well. We’ve made a lot of progress today, but we actually made it last month. ‘This is not a one-day process agreement, this is a very complex thing.’

Two world leaders claimed on Sunday they were “very close” to reaching agreement on all but “one or two thorny issues”

Trump says he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin will come to the negotiating table

Trump was also asked what a timeline for ending the war might look like, but he noted that there are still many obstacles on the path to peace.

‘We’ll know one way or another in a few weeks,’ he said. ‘We may have something where an element you didn’t think about is a large element and it smashes it.’

He admitted that ‘it was a very difficult and very detailed negotiation.’

But he offered a grim dose of reality for the future if the deal fails, warning: ‘They keep fighting and they keep dying.’

The US president initially hoped he could quickly resolve the Russia-Ukraine conflict when he took office last year, but incessant bombings continued; This has led Trump to occasionally express his frustrations with both Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Now to secure a peace deal, Trump said he had a ‘very good and very productive phone call with Russian President Putin’ and was ‘in the final stages of talking’ with each president.

‘We are in the final stage of the conversation… It will either end, or it will continue for a long time and millions more people will die. “No one wants this,” he said.

The president added that he believes Putin is ready for a ceasefire. ‘Too many people are dying, and I think both presidents want to make a deal,’ he said.

“I believe we have what it takes to get a deal that works for Ukraine and for everyone,” Trump continued. ‘There is nothing more important. ‘I’ve finished eight battles and this is the hardest.’

The remarks came just a day after Russia launched a barrage of missiles on Kiev, killing at least one person and injuring 20 others. Emergency services are seen at the scene following a Russian attack in the Ukrainian capital on December 23

A Ukrainian military member walking through the heavily damaged residential area of ​​the front-line town of Kostyantynivka in the Donetsk region

But at a press conference with Zelensky, Trump refused to go into further detail about his conversations with Putin.

“We weren’t talking about the weather, we weren’t talking about what a beautiful day it was in Palm Beach, Florida,” Trump said.

‘Russia wants to see Ukraine succeed,’ he said.

‘It sounds a bit strange, but President Putin has been very generous in his feelings that Ukraine will succeed, including providing energy, electricity and other things at very low prices.’

But his remarks came just a day after Russia launched missile bombardment of Kiev, killing at least one person and injuring 20 others, according to the mayor of the Ukrainian capital.

Zelensky said his only priority was to end the war. A woman carrying a dog on her lap was photographed in Kiev on December 23

Zelensky said his country needs more air defense, weapons and money. The day before Christmas Eve in Lviv, the graves of fallen Ukrainian soldiers at the Lychakiv Military Cemetery were decorated with Christmas trees and New Year decorations.

Writing to X before the summit on Saturday, Zelensky said: ‘The number one or only priority for us is to end the war. For us, the priority is peace.

‘We need to be strong at the negotiation table.’ To be strong, we need the support of the world: Europe and the United States.’

Zelensky said his country needs more air defense, weapons and money.

‘If the whole world, Europe and America are on our side, we will stop Putin together,’ he said.

Zelensky added that he started the day with a ‘detailed telephone conversation’ with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, where ‘preparations for a meeting with President Trump’ and ‘consequences of Russian attacks’ were discussed.

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov described Europe as the “biggest obstacle to peace” and praised Trump’s efforts to achieve peace.

In his interview with the Russian news channel, Lavrov said, “After the change of administration in the USA, Europe and the European Union have become the biggest obstacle to peace.” tass It was published on Sunday.