One of the factors that upset Donald Trump during his meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky was that the Ukrainian president arrived without wearing a suit.
This was reported by two sources from Trump’s inner circle to Axios.
Trump’s advisors had repeatedly told Zelensky’s team that it would be more respectful for the Ukrainian president to avoid military-style clothing during his visit to the White House. Zelensky arrived at the White House wearing a more formal black outfit with the national emblem of Ukraine, but without a suit.
“He really dressed up today,” Trump remarked when shaking Zelensky’s hand at the entrance to the West Wing of the White House.
Zelensky has not worn a suit since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. At one point, Polish President Andrzej Duda expressed a wish for Zelensky to wear a suit to one of the summits, symbolizing the end of the war in Ukraine. In the Oval Office on Friday, one of the reporters asked Zelensky why he wasn’t wearing a suit for the meeting at the “highest level” of the United States.
“Why aren’t you wearing a suit? Do you have a suit?” the journalist asked.
“Do you have a problem?” Zelensky replied.
“Many Americans have a problem with those who don’t respect the dress code of the Oval Office,” the journalist responded.
Zelensky then said that he would wear a suit once the Russia-Ukraine war ends.
