National Security Adviser Mike Waltz spoke with Fox and Friends about the continuing negotiations to end the Russia-Ukraine war, saying President Donald Trump and the White House "expect to get this deal done."
"We have been all hands on deck. Secretary [Scott] Bessent, our Treasury Secretary, has been leading the charge, and frustrations are high," Waltz began, adding that "the United States has stepped forward for Ukraine in a historic and tremendous way."
Additionally, Waltz suggested the Ukrainians have "to realize the opportunity that this is, to be co-invested with the United States of America in the future of Ukraine and the future of its economy and growing the pie in terms of its natural resources that not only helps Ukraine but recoups these hundreds of billions of dollars for the Ukrainian people and the American taxpayer going forward. So we expect to get this deal done. President Trump expects to get this deal done, and I think you will see that in very short order."
Host Lawrence Jones noted that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has offered to resign his position if it means ending the war and his country's membership in NATO, which Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said is "not realistic."
Waltz agreed as this would mean the United States would be obligated to defend NATO. " We have been asking for years for Europe to step up for its own defense, and we have been asking for years for Europe to pay for its own defense, as the US taxpayers have been taking an unfair burden for decades."
Jones then asked how a possible deal with Ukraine for its rare earth mineral deposits is going and what it may look like, to which Waltz answered, "Our position has been 50% of growing the pie is better than the 100% of where [the Ukrainians] are today."
"So let us grow together in an economic partnership. And of course, the US would protect our assets for which we are invested in. This could mean trillions, not only for the Ukrainian people but for us and the stability of the region, and that economic investment is one of the best security guarantees that Ukraine could ever hope for," Waltz concluded.
