Location, location: Why Ukraine leader aimed for Oval Office
WASHINGTON (AP) — The room features a couple of couches, an extremely old desk and a pair of classic wing chairs by the fireplace. But the location conveys power and instantly elevates the stature of any guest.
Through weeks of impeachment hearings and investigation, the Oval Office has emerged as such a sought-after destination that Ukraine’s new president was hell-bent on getting there and the White House unafraid to dangle it as leverage.
From the moment of his landslide victory last April, comedian-turned-president Volodymyr Zelenskiy single-mindedly pushed for a face-to-face meeting at the White House with President Donald Trump.
It would be a quick win, he thought, and more importantly send a message to his Russian adversaries that the U.S. had his back.
Why the Oval Office or its environs?
“It’s just the optics,” diplomat Kurt Volker explained to House investigators. Beyond the substance of the meeting, “the imagery of the Ukrainian president, you know, at the White House, walking down the colonnade, in the Rose Garden, whatever it might be, that imagery conveys a message of U.S. support.”
It wasn’t just Zelenskiy who was intent on a White House sit-down. Diplomats, White House aides and Ukrainian officials were united in their determination to bring Zelenskiy to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
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