The political firestorm over last week’s Oval Office clash between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President Donald Trump is still raging, and former Obama National Security Adviser Susan Rice just threw gasoline on the fire.
Rice, who served as U.N. ambassador and national security adviser under Barack Obama, accused Trump’s team of orchestrating the entire debacle, claiming Zelenskyy’s public humiliation was nothing more than a political setup. She went so far as to call the event an “embarrassment for the United States on the world stage.”
Yesterday, Susan Rice said of the Trump-Zelensky meeting, "There is no question this was a set up." She revealed full knowledge of the mineral agreement, complained that it didn't include "concrete" security agrees (meaning, apparently, commitment of US troops on the ground if…
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) March 1, 2025
But critics weren’t having it. Mollie Hemingway, editor in chief of The Federalist, quickly countered Rice’s claim, arguing that Zelenskyy had multiple opportunities to accept a peace deal in Kyiv and Munich but repeatedly refused. Instead, Hemingway suggested, Zelenskyy’s aggressive stance at the White House was no accident. According to her, Rice, along with Secretary of State Tony Blinken, Victoria Nuland, and Alexander Vindman, may have been behind the scenes advising Zelenskyy to take a confrontational approach—hoping to bait Trump into reacting poorly.
Rice, however, denied any involvement, firing back on X:
"For the record, I have never met Zelenskyy and never spoken to him. Ever. Or advised him or anybody around him."
You clowns are up to the same old tired crap. When your guy screws up and royally embarrasses himself and the U.S., you try to change the subject and lie about a favorite target to distract and deflect.
For the record, I have never met Zelenskyy and never spoken to him. Ever.… https://t.co/UHJHL1jrZR
— Susan Rice (@AmbassadorRice) March 1, 2025
Then came the real heat. Former Acting Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell responded with a brutal takedown:
"Donald Trump handed you peace in the Middle East and Europe – you handed us two wars. We see you."
That’s about as direct as it gets. And given Rice’s track record, the criticism isn’t surprising. She was a central figure in pushing the false narrative that the 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi was a “spontaneous” reaction to a YouTube video—an assertion that was later debunked. Now, she appears to be taking Zelenskyy’s side over America’s, doubling down on the same failed globalist policies that defined the Obama years.
Your guy couldn’t even talk to Putin. For 3.5 years!
Your policies helped usher in a war in Ukraine, Gaza…and Rwanda if you remember.
And then you lied about Libya - it wasn’t caused by a video. You made that up….
Donald Trump handed you peace in the Middle East and Europe… https://t.co/r6VIc0gIIC
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) March 1, 2025