Volodymyr Zelensky’s “tipping point” before chaos broke out in the Oval Office has been fleshed out by body language expert Darren Stanton.
Speaking on GB News, Stanton said the Ukrainian president “got President Trump’s back up” with a gesture of “defiance”.
He also said that after years of analysing Trump’s body language, the US president showed characteristics during the public shouting match that he had never seen before.
Stanton told GB News: “It’s important for Trump to be seen as the most important man in the room, we will often see power gestures.
Zelensky and Trump's extraordinary clash has sparked fears about the future of US support for Ukraine
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“The famous one is the power shake. He does this famous, bone-crusher handshake where he pulls other politicians towards him and depending on their resistance he figures out whether they are pliable or not.
“His interaction with Zelensky is something I have never seen in the time I have been assessing politicians. The tipping point for me was, Zelensky came with an agenda of trying to figure out what support and safeguards are going to be implemented.
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Donald Trump told Zelensky he is 'gambling with World War 3'Reuters“Trump is more concerned about a deal before discussing that. We noticed a couple of key things with Zelensky.
“Just before the vice president was talking about not showing respect, we see Zelensky sit back in his chair in what we call a distancing gesture and then he folds his arms, which is a show of arrogance.
“That was the tipping point in his mind that makes him think he’s not going to proceed with it.”
Despite Zelensky’s show of frustration, Stanton thinks Trump came out as the overall winner from the feisty exchange.
Darren Stanton joined Dawn Neesom on GB News
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“Trump let JD Vance say his piece and he was quiet at certain times”, he said.
“What got Trump’s back up was Zelensky saying ‘you will see what will come up in time’. From a non-verbal perspective, I think Trump came out as the winner.”
The US President accused his Ukrainian counterpart of not showing enough gratitude to America for its years of support, a claim vehemently denied by Zelensky.
JD Vance echoed the claims while accusing Zelensky of disrespecting the Oval Office.
A scheduled press conference was called off shortly after the clash with Zelensky being whisked away in his car.
European leaders came out in support of the man grappling with Russian aggression first hand, with many set to meet him at a summit in London.
“Come back when you’re ready for peace” was Trump’s parting message to Zelensky, which he posted on social media before his departure.
