Piers Morgan Weighs in on the Press Conference Between Trump and Zelensky

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Long-time friend of Donald Trump, Piers Morgan, weighs in on the press conference between the US President and Volodymyr Zelensky last week. Piers says, 'Trump wants peace, not war.'  Broadcast on 03/03/25  Stream Good Morning Britain live, every weekday from 6am on the ITVX 📲 http://daytimelink.itv.com/WatchGMBYT Subscribe now for more! http://bit.ly/1NbomQa Like, follow and subscribe to Good Morning Britain!  The Good Morning Britain YouTube channel delivers you the news that you’re waking up to in the morning. From exclusive interviews with some of the biggest names in politics and showbiz to heartwarming human interest stories and unmissable watch again moments.   Join Susanna Reid, Ed Balls, Kate Garraway, Richard Madeley, Charlotte Hawkins and Sean Fletcher every weekday on ITV from 6am until 9 every weekday!  ITVX: http://daytimelink.itv.com/WatchGMBYT Website: http://bit.ly/1GsZuha YouTube: http://bit.ly/1Ecy0g1 Facebook: http://on.fb.me/1HEDRMb Twitter: http://bit.ly/1xdLqU3 http://www.itv.com  #GMB #piersmorgan #donaldtrump #uknews

Transcript

00:00Now, very few people can say they've locked horns

00:02with President Donald Trump in the same way

00:04that President Zelensky did on Friday

00:07in that astonishing meeting.

00:08But has it derailed Ukraine's chance of a peace deal?

00:13No, says friend of the president,

00:15Piers Morgan, who says he's had far worse shouting

00:18matches with Trump.

00:19And with you.

00:20I was going to say, there's very few people.

00:23Hang on, are we just going to ignore the fact

00:25I haven't been here for 1,453 days?

00:27No, we're not going to ignore that fact.

00:28Do I not even get a hug?

00:29No, apparently.

00:30Come on.

00:30No, what?

00:31Come on.

00:31No, no, I don't want a hug.

00:33Come on, come on, come on.

00:34OK, yeah.

00:34Come on.

00:37I was going to say.

00:38Piers, I don't mind.

00:38Come on, come on, come on.

00:40We don't mind, mate.

00:41We don't mind hugging.

00:42God, you've moved on so fast, haven't you?

00:44I've got a couple of new husbands now.

00:46Moved on so fast.

00:47She doesn't hug me either.

00:48No, I don't do hugs, as you know.

00:50I've locked horns with you, Piers Morgan.

00:53Yes, you have, Suzanne Maria.

00:54On many an occasion.

00:55Yes, you have.

00:56But you have locked horns with President Trump.

01:00Friday was a disaster, optically, in the White House.

01:04But you must have sat there watching, thinking,

01:07I've had worse blow ups with President Trump.

01:09And the next minute, he's on the phone

01:10telling me I'm welcome to play golf.

01:11Well, he was actually on the phone that morning, too.

01:14So did you wind him up so much on Friday morning?

01:16I was trying to think what I said.

01:18I mean, I was in a, it was quite funny,

01:19I was in a black cab in London.

01:22And my phone got, I could see it was, I have him under DJT.

01:25DJT?

01:26It was flashing, and I thought, should I take it in the cab?

01:29I thought, we can't not take a call from the President.

01:31So I, Mr. President, I'm just looking at the cab driver's eyes.

01:34And we spoke for about 15 minutes.

01:36Do you have him on speaker in the cab?

01:37No, no, no.

01:38But obviously, I was talking in a way that was giving a few clues.

01:41And the cab driver said, Piers, I don't want to pry,

01:44and he said, but what's that?

01:47Was that Donald Trump?

01:48Actually, it was.

01:50And he said, God, he said, I've been driving cabs a long time.

01:53He said, I've never had anyone talk to the President

01:55of the United States in my cab before.

01:57So it's quite funny.

01:58But anyway, Trump was in a very good, upbeat mood.

02:00I had a long chat with him about a number of things.

02:02I've talked about him, about Ukraine with him,

02:04a number of times.

02:06And the one thing I think is always

02:07important with Donald Trump, and you put your finger on it,

02:10I've had screaming matches with him, literally.

02:13And then an hour later, we're laughing and joking,

02:15doing a fun interview.

02:16Literally, I had that two and a half years ago.

02:18So I always think with him, focus on what he does,

02:22not what he says, or the general drama and chaos.

02:26And secondly, understand that this

02:27is almost uniquely, in modern times,

02:30a Republican president in America

02:32who wants peace, not war.

02:35I mean, he hasn't, in his first term, declared war anywhere.

02:38He wants to end the two wars that are raging right now

02:40in Ukraine and Israel.

02:42And I think, although it was all very unedifying,

02:44although it shouldn't have happened,

02:46if you actually watch the whole press

02:47conference with Zelensky, and I interviewed Zelensky

02:50two weeks ago, I had a long chat with him.

02:52So I got where his mindset was on this.

02:54If you watch the whole thing, you're

02:55actually getting to the nub of where this peace

02:57deal is likely to end up.

02:58And that's, to me, a bit of squabbling

03:01in front of the cameras.

03:02Shouldn't have happened.

03:03You were straight out.

03:03But let's not overreact.

03:04Focus on the big picture, which is, how do we get to peace?

03:07You were straight out on Twitter in the minutes

03:10after that interview, when everybody else was

03:12saying it's a disaster.

03:14You came out and said, no, there's going to be a deal.

03:17Was that because you just knew that's what Trump is about?

03:21Or was it something he'd said to you in that phone call

03:22on the Friday, which made you think,

03:24don't over-interpret this bust up?

03:26I think a bit of all of that.

03:28I mean, I think that I had a chat with him

03:30just before the inauguration.

03:31We had a long chat on the phone.

03:32And he talked about Ukraine specifically in that.

03:34The Pentagon had said to him, in the previous six weeks,

03:37100,000 people had been killed on the battlefield, Ukraine

03:41and Russia side.

03:43And he said, can you believe the numbers?

03:45This is like the First World War.

03:47This is the worst imaginable kind of killing going on.

03:50He said, we have to end this.

03:52So I genuinely do think he wants peace.

03:54Now, what's he doing with Putin?

03:57Again, it's very interesting.

03:57I found an old clip.

03:58Someone tweeted it to me yesterday.

04:00Bill Clinton, who I interviewed about 10 years ago,

04:03talking about when he dealt with Vladimir Putin.

04:05And he said that the way he used to deal with him

04:08was, in public, respectful, don't attack him,

04:11don't criticize him too much.

04:12Behind the scenes, get very tough.

04:15And he said, when we reach points of agreement,

04:17interestingly, he said, Putin never went back on his word

04:20to me.

04:21Now, when you listen to what Trump says,

04:22he's saying all the time, Vladimir

04:24hasn't done this to me.

04:27So it's very personal for him.

04:28The interaction with Russian leader, American leader,

04:31for Trump is personal.

04:33He's betting the bank, I think, in this peace deal,

04:36that when it comes to it, the minerals deal, which I think

04:39is really smart, because it gets Trump's MAGA base off his back.

04:44He can say, look, it's not costing us money.

04:46In fact, we're making money.

04:47So don't worry about that.

04:49And he thinks, by having a lot of Americans

04:51mining for minerals in Ukraine on a permanent basis,

04:54Vladimir Putin will not attack Ukraine.

04:56Zelensky, I think, is concerned, that's

04:59fine while Donald Trump is in charge.

05:01What happens after that?

05:02And I think that is where they've got to, which is,

05:04what are the security guarantees?

05:07When Sir Keir Starmer was there on Thursday,

05:09he was seen to have played an absolute blinder.

05:12He flourishes this royal letter from the king,

05:16personally signed.

05:18And you could almost see Donald Trump purring as he takes it

05:23and asks the prime minister to read it.

05:25Calls today for that to be rescinded, torn up, cancelled.

05:31How important is that meeting to Donald Trump?

05:33How much does he adore the royal family?

05:36Would a threat of rescinding it mean anything at all?

05:40And can we leverage it to say, that meeting's

05:43not going to happen for a while until you

05:46give security guarantees?

05:47We can play games with Trump, and we can threaten him

05:49and all this, but it won't make any difference.

05:51What does make a difference?

05:52Well, I spoke to him about the royal visit.

05:54He was incredibly honoured on Friday morning when we spoke.

05:56Keir Starmer wouldn't play games with that, would he?

05:59No, well, of course, of course, every prime minister

06:01wants to leverage that relationship.

06:02I've got to say, I was surprised by the stick you guys were all

06:05giving Keir Starmer.

06:06I think he's played a blinder here.

06:08I think the way he conducted himself with Trump

06:10was a template in how to do it.

06:12I think the offering of a second state visit

06:14was playing to Trump's obvious love of the royal family.

06:16His mother was born in Scotland, raised there till she was 18.

06:20They watched a coronation on television.

06:23I've had a long chat with Trump about the royals many times,

06:25and he's a big, big royal fan.

06:27So the question then becomes, what is in our interest here?

06:30It's not just about Ukraine's interest,

06:32it's about our national interest too.

06:34The most interesting aspect of the last week for me,

06:37two things.

06:38Keir Starmer seems to have found his mojo as a prime minister,

06:42which I'm pleased to see after a pretty rocky start,

06:45let's be honest.

06:46Secondly, the UK seems to be leading in Europe

06:49for the first time since Brexit.

06:51And I'm very pleased about that too.

06:54So we should be, I think, pleased to see our prime minister

06:57leading the European thing.

06:59And Starmer's a smart guy.

07:01He knows from Trump, Trump quite rightly

07:04believes the Europeans have not stepped up

07:06enough in their defense.

07:08We haven't, nor the European country has.

07:10We're now stepping up more.

07:12Trump will respect that.

07:13But Trump's absolutely right.

07:14Look at the NATO spending pie.

07:16Why should America, if you're the Americans,

07:19this is how they think, why should America

07:21keep bailing us out, keep funding all the military operations

07:25way more than everybody else?

07:27And I think that's the key for the tension.

07:29Can I ask a little bit more about those conversations?

07:32You can ask me whatever you like, Susanna.

07:33We go back a long way.

07:34We do.

07:36I'm trying not to remember those particular moments.

07:39Give me an eye roll for old time's sake, come on.

07:41I want to ask about those conversations

07:43you have with President Trump.

07:45Why does he ring you?

07:47What's his purpose?

07:49Well, he rang me recently just to say

07:51he thought I was looking really good on TV,

07:53which is perfectly understandable.

07:55I do.

07:56Has he not got better people to call about more important issues?

08:00I'm sorry he doesn't ring you, but he obviously

08:02prefers ringing me.

08:03Look, I've known him 20 years.

08:05I've known him a long time.

08:06I think you look great, but so does Susanna.

08:08OK, that's not the material point.

08:10I would never objectify like that.

08:12I have to be honest.

08:13Yeah, OK.

08:14He's the key player in world affairs.

08:18And he's ringing you.

08:19So am I.

08:19And saying, you look great.

08:21What's your workout plan?

08:23Yeah.

08:24He did, yeah.

08:25And then you extend that conversation for 15 minutes.

08:28Yeah.

08:29Well, I can imagine you'd happily talk about yourself

08:31for 15 minutes, Biz.

08:32But surely the US president has a few more bon mots

08:35you can share with us.

08:36Well, what did we talk about?

08:39We talked about Kirsteinmer.

08:41He really liked Kirsteinmer, which I was surprised.

08:44He said, look, we're not natural political bedfellows at all.

08:47Obviously, he said, but I find him a straight shooter.

08:49I like him.

08:50He said, and he had a good time with him at the White House.

08:52He was very thrilled and honored about the state visit.

08:56And look, with Trump, you either kiss the ring a bit

08:59or you choose deliberately not to.

09:01We all know he responds well to flattery.

09:03If he's the most powerful man in the world, which he is,

09:07it is pretty foolhardy of any country, frankly,

09:10to say to him, you know what?

09:11We're going to rough you up a bit.

09:13And my only advice for President Zelensky,

09:14who I think is an absolute hero,

09:17and I've interviewed him several times,

09:18and I think the guy and his country are amazing,

09:21and no one will bow to no one in my admiration.

09:24But the thing about President Zelensky in that moment

09:26was he just took the bait a bit, especially from J.D. Vance.

09:29And my advice before would have been to him,

09:31stay calm, be very grateful.

09:34Remember that a lot of the base conservative MAGA movement

09:38do not like the amount of money

09:39that's being spent in Ukraine

09:41because they want it spent on domestic issues in America.

09:43That J.D. Vance point is really interesting

09:45because in the first term, I don't remember Donald Trump

09:48ever being in the room and kind of deferring a bit,

09:51whereas now we have Elon Musk.

09:53On Friday, we had J.D. Vance kind of stepping in.

09:56It was actually J.D. Vance who picked the fight with Zelensky.

09:59It's a different kind of Trump.

10:01Well, I'll tell you what's different.

10:02He's allowing the guy to be big egos around him.

10:04Here's what's different with Trump, which I've really noticed

10:06because I've spoken to him maybe six, seven times

10:08since he got shot and including a week after.

10:11I think he's a bit of a change guy in his head,

10:14not in the rhetoric, he's the same guy,

10:15but in his head, I think he really believes

10:17he got a second chance at life.

10:19He came within half an inch of getting assassinated.

10:22You know, his ear got grazed.

10:23Think about that with an AR-15 bullet,

10:25it would have taken his brains out.

10:27So I think he feels that.

10:28I also think with the presidency,

10:29he had four years in the wilderness, right?

10:32Wondering, would he ever get another chance at this?

10:35This time, he's hit the ground spectacularly hard

10:38in terms of initiative after initiative after initiative.

10:40200 executive orders, I want peace in the Middle East,

10:43I want peace in Ukraine.

10:44This is a man on a mission for his legacy.

10:47And I think you have to, again,

10:48contextualise Trump with that in mind.

10:51He's J.D. Vance's chosen successor, though.

10:53Well, I think he'd like to be, and he's certainly, look,

10:55J.D. Vance... Vance would like that,

10:56but does Trump want J.D. Vance to be?

10:58Well, he said directly he wasn't going to give him

11:00his endorsement yet, but that's not surprising.

11:02There'll be a few jostling for that position.

11:03Do you think President Trump would like another term?

11:06I don't think that's going to happen,

11:07so I think people can relax on that.

11:08Well, constitutionally, it can't,

11:10but I wonder whether he might like this.

11:12I'm sure he'd love to!

11:13I don't think he will.

11:14I just think that we should, as a country here,

11:17always think about what is in the UK's national interest.

11:19Keir Starmer said a very interesting thing.

11:21He's not looking at X and the other social media platforms

11:24for advice on how to handle this.

11:26He's trusting his gut instinct.

11:28Put the UK first, try and help Ukraine,

11:31but make sure that special relationship

11:33with the United States is rock solid,

11:35because they remain the biggest superpower in the world,

11:38and we cross them at our peril.

11:40But ultimately, does Trump want peace?

11:42Yes. Is that a good thing? Yes.

11:44Can we help him in Europe to get there by showing

11:48that we're stepping up collectively in the way

11:50that I think Starmer and Macron are leading the way?

11:52Yes. So, you know, fingers crossed.

11:54I think in a few weeks, it could look very different.

11:57And does he mind you not wearing a tie?

11:59No, he doesn't seem to mind.

12:00He didn't mind what Zelensky was wearing.

12:03He actually said several times,

12:04I think you look really smart.

12:06Yeah, that was a...

12:08You should get rid of a tie, Ed. It's all a bit formal, mate.

12:10You want to just, you know, in the YouTube world that I'm now in,

12:13ties are like the enemy, you know?

12:15In the end, Piers, as you know,

12:17I always do what the editor wants.

12:20Or what Susanna tells you to do.

12:21Well...

12:22It's bad for her brand if you take the tie off, isn't it?

12:24Nothing to do with me.

12:26Come on, are you going to make any omission here?

12:29There's a door there. I'm not sure if you recognise it, Piers.

12:34Oh, the rain's over there! Hello!

12:36Hello!

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