The White House just revealed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had actually turned down President Donald Trump's mineral rights deal twice.

This, according to the Daily Mail, took place before the recent Oval Office incident that led to Zelensky's removal from the White House.

This information comes from Trump's Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent.

He made the revelation during a recent appearance on the Fox News Channel's The Ingraham Angle. 

The Oval Office blowup

By now, we all likely know what happened in the Oval Office on Friday.

Trump had Zelensky there in order to sign a deal that would have given the United States' the rights to some of Ukraine's minerals. But, the Zelensky upended the deal by attempting to "litigate the matter before the American media," as Vice President J.D. Vance put it.

This led to an argument, which eventually resulted in Trump having Zelensky removed from the White House.

This Oval Office blowup, of course, is what everyone is focusing on. The political left is trying to capitalize on it, by arguing, as usual, that Trump is doing Russian President Vladimir Putin's dirty work. The political right, on the other hand, are celebrating the fact that we finally have a president and vice president who are sticking up for America and the American people.

What is gaining far less attention are the events that led up to the situation that unfolded in the Oval Office.

More details revealed

Now, Bessent is helping us to understand some of the events that led up to the Oval Office blowup.

The New York Post reports:

Bessent explained that Zelensky told him during a meeting in Kyiv that he would not sign a mineral deal, which would exchange billions of dollars in US aid funding for rare earths and other resources from Ukraine. Zelensky also refused to close the deal with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Bessent stated.

The big question then is why Zelensky decided to show up at the White House on Friday - if he only intended on turning the deal down.

Bessent went on to say, "It was supposed to be a great day and this is one of the biggest own goals in diplomatic history. Today, I was shocked that he would behave like this on camera in front of the world."

Indeed. Chances are there are still aspects of this story that have yet to be reported. We'll have to see if further details are revealed in the coming days.