Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wanted to strike a “make-believe bargain” with the United States before an explosive confrontation at the White House that resulted in a rare earth minerals deal being cast aside, according to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

During an interview on Fox News, “Sunday Morning Futures” host Maria Bartiromo asked Lutnick about the clash in which President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance got into a fiery exchange with Zelensky over ending the Ukraine-Russia war in which the United States has provided tens of billions of dollars in aid to Kiev.

“Well, Secretary, you were sitting across from the president on Friday,” Bartiromo said, adding later, “I want to get your reaction to what went down. How was it in the room? And do you believe Democrats were egging on Zelensky to not say thank you, to stay tough and not sign that rare earth minerals deal?”

Lutnick replied: “No, so we were 40 minutes before the cameras came in, and 45 minutes before the meltdown, and the fact was, Zelensky never stopped asking for, you know — ‘I will give no concessions. They have got to leave my land. I want reparations of $300 billion. And I want the United States to give me security guarantees while they’re at war with Russia.'”

The secretary then referred to the moment when Trump told Zelensky that he was “gambling with World War III” by not doing more to seek peace with Russia.

“And that’s why the president called it World War III. ‘You’re gambling with World War III.’ We’re not going to give you security guarantees while you’re at war with Russia. It’s just ridiculous. His requests were ridiculous. They were not reasonable,” Lutnick said. “The president let it go for a while, you know, was very — he was there to make peace. Our president is there to make peace, as he said, end the death. And Zelensky was not there to make peace. He was there to strike some sort of make-believe bargain that he had in his mind. And, eventually that just ran its course. And Donald Trump said, I can’t take this nonsense anymore, and made it crystal clear he’s the peacemaker. And if Zelensky’s not interested in peace, then he should go home and think about it.”

Bartiromo pointed out, as The Daily Wire reported, that Zelensky was indeed asked to leave the White House.

“And that’s what happened. He was asked to leave. I don’t know exactly the language President Trump used, but he said, get the heck out of here. Do you think that Zelensky had met with Democrats before meeting with Trump, and, basically, they told him, stay firm, don’t give in to anything, don’t do the rare earth minerals deal?” Bartiromo asked.

“I can’t imagine that. Gosh, I hope not. I mean, that would be dreadful,” Lutnick said. “So the fact is, the president just wants to make peace. He tried to make peace. We had a beautiful lunch arranged. We had signing tables all set up. This was designed to be beautiful, right? And, instead, we had lunch by ourselves without the Zelensky crowd there because they just did not come for peace. And our president’s there, as he said, to end the death and to create peace.”

The secretary added: “And that’s who Donald Trump is. And he knows how to do it. He even said you have to be reasonable to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin. You can’t say Putin’s a terrorist and then call the guy up and try to make peace with him. So you have to play balance. Donald Trump knows how to be mediator. He knows how to arbitrate this. And he needs Zelensky onside. And Zelensky needed to hear it directly from the funding mouth of the United States of America. We’re not going to give you money unless you’re here for peace.”