Steve Bateman

A must-watch exchange between Brian @kilmeade and Rachel Campos-Duffy on FOX & Friends about Ukraine and Trump’s Russian diesel deal. Here’s the full transcript: CAMPOS-DUFFY: I know you're a big fan of Zelensky, but yesterday President Trump said maybe it's time for an election and a new leader in Ukraine because Zelensky keeps blowing up these refineries after the president said, "Please don't do that," especially before the midterms. He keeps doing it, and it's hurting President Trump and the administration, who's been very generous toward him and his war effort. KILMEADE: The president got ticked off because Zelensky came out and said, "Do not buy 5 million tons of diesel," which is in violation, I thought, of the bill they just signed, Lindsey Graham's bill, that says if you buy any energy from Russia, you're going to get sanctioned with tariffs. Are we going to tariff ourselves? So I have no idea. Zelensky's frustrated because now all this money is going to flow into Russia, which started this whole war unprovoked. They are the bad guys, and there is no way Zelensky turned down any plausible deal. In fact, since that time, when they told him he was going to lose the Donbas, he has gained back portions of the Donbas. CAMPOS-DUFFY: Are you saying that there were no peace efforts? KILMEADE: There was no plausible, practical peace effort that Vladimir Putin would participate in effectively that would end this war. There's one person who is responsible: Vladimir Putin. That is it. And he gets his ass kicked. CAMPOS-DUFFY: There was a peace deal that—I think Turkey was trying to broker it, and Boris Johnson advised Zelensky not to take that deal. KILMEADE: It doesn't matter. I don't know what Boris Johnson's doing now. Is he in a retirement home? CAMPOS-DUFFY: I think there's a reason why the president is buying diesel from Russia, and that's because Zelensky keeps blowing up the refineries. KILMEADE: Can you blame him? That's the war machine that's killing his people, that bombs apartment buildings. CAMPOS-DUFFY: But he's dependent on us, and the president said, "Don't do this." Are you for America or for Ukraine? KILMEADE: The diesel fuel got stopped because Iran was blowing up the Gulf states' oil and their refineries, and now all of a sudden there's a new emphasis on Russia. But for me, the way Ukraine innovated drone technology in order to take out what's fueling the Russian war machine is phenomenal. They'll be writing about this in war journals forever. The Ukrainians have modernized modern war before our very eyes. CAMPOS-DUFFY: I'm not so sure that's a positive, Brian. I mean, there are 30,000 young men on each side who are dying every single month. KILMEADE: Vladimir Putin. CAMPOS-DUFFY: Every single month. We should not be practicing drone technology and using these kids as guinea pigs. KILMEADE: What kids? CAMPOS-DUFFY: The soldiers. These are young men… KILMEADE: Rachel, these are in response to attacks. They're getting rocketed, so they found a way… CAMPOS-DUFFY: The president said he wanted peace in Ukraine, and he said he was going to do that. KILMEADE: Tell Vladimir Putin. CAMPOS-DUFFY: Well, now, because of what Zelensky is doing, we're probably going to get peace there because President Trump is now working with Russia, because Zelensky is so arrogant. KILMEADE: It would be the biggest mistake of his administration to work with Russia. That is the modern Hitler of our generation. He is the cause of all the problems in the region, and now he's helping Iran kill our guys and blow up our bases. And now, yeah, the story you pointed out to me today in The Wall Street Journal—you see that they and China are providing drones to the Houthis. China and Russia are the problem.