Sleazy Donald Trump decided to use a White House summit with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to lust over “beautiful” young women in the warring country.
Trump, 79, was said to have blurted out the inappropriate comment during an August sit-down with Zelensky, 47, in a meeting that was markedly calmer than their Oval Office clash earlier in the year.
According to an account published by The New York Times, Trump told aides that, back when he owned Miss Universe, contestants from Ukraine “were often the most beautiful,” adding: “Ukrainian women are beautiful.”
Zelensky shot back: “I know, I married one.”
Trump then steered the conversation to his old friend Phil Ruffin, the now 90-year-old Las Vegas billionaire who married former Miss Ukraine Oleksandra Nikolayenko, 44, at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in 2008, with Trump as best man.
Trump is then said to have called Ruffin and asked him to put Nikolayenko on the phone, before he handed his own phone to Zelensky. The room “went on pause” for roughly 10 to 15 minutes while the two spoke in Ukrainian, the Times reported.
Nikolayenko later recalled discussing relatives still in the city of Odesa—saying Zelensky was surprised they had not left—while one unnamed official described the room’s mood shifting as laughter broke out and “a human connection” took hold, the paper said.
The anecdote comes as Trump continues his peace push in the Ukraine-Russia war, which saw him sit down with Zelensky at Mar-a-Lago on Dec. 28, before making a bizarre comment about how Putin wanted Ukraine to “succeed.”
“I was explaining to the president [Zelensky], President Putin was very generous in his feeling toward Ukraine succeeding,” Trump told a room of reporters Sunday in front of a bewildered Zelensky.
His comment came a day after Russian forces bombed Kyiv, killing one and injuring dozens of others. It also came after Putin apparently tried to sabotage Trump and Zelensky’s conversation by accusing Ukraine of bombing one of the Russian president’s houses.
The Kremlin said Ukrainian drones targeted one of Putin’s residences, but they were shot down by Russian forces. They provided no evidence to back up this attack.
“[Trump] said he couldn’t even imagine such crazy actions. And, as stated, this will undoubtedly impact American approaches to working with Zelensky, whom, as Trump himself said, thank God, the current administration hasn’t given ‘Tomahawks,’” said the Kremlin’s readout of the call.
Ukraine denied the attack immediately. Zelensky characterized the accusation as Putin’s attempt to sow discord in his peace talks with Trump.
“It is clear that we had a meeting with Trump yesterday, and it is clear that for the Russians, if there is no scandal between us and America, and we are making progress—for them it is a failure, because they do not want to end this war," he said.
Donald Trump bought the Miss Universe Organization in 1996, becoming the owner of Miss Universe, Miss USA, and Miss Teen USA for almost two decades. The franchises doubled as branding vehicles and TV properties, later airing through a joint venture with NBC in the early 2000s.
After NBC cut ties in June 2015, he bought out NBCUniversal’s stake in September 2015 and sold the pageant business to WME/IMG days later.
Trump’s pageant era also produced misconduct allegations. In October 2016, before he became president, it was reported that former Miss Teen USA contestants told BuzzFeed News how Trump walked into their dressing room while they were undressed. Some said they were as young as 15 and called it “shocking” and “creepy.”
The same year, former Miss Utah Temple Taggart alleged Trump kissed her during Miss USA-related events and left her “shocked.”
Trump has denied sexual assault allegations and has disputed accusers’ claims.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
