Nick Schifrin:
Geoff, they describe themselves as both anxious and a little bit confused.
Senior European officials describe themselves as anxious to me because of what they heard from Pete Hegseth at NATO headquarters this week, even if he walked back some of his comments yesterday, and what they have heard from President Trump all week about NATO, Russia, and how he feels about Ukraine.
But they are also a little bit confused, because they tell me that they have had different messages from different people. Senior European officials met with J.D. Vance in Paris earlier this week and left that meeting very reassured about how Vance felt about NATO and Ukraine.
American officials, in fact, tell me that they’re trying to explain to European officials that the Trump administration does not have a normal policymaking procedure and that they just have to be patient until the Trump administration and specifically President Trump comes out with a specific policy.
But the bottom line, though, is that the Europeans and Ukrainians are very anticipatory about tomorrow’s comments by J.D. Vance, not only what he will say in public about Ukraine and NATO, Geoff, but also what he will say in private in that meeting with Zelenskyy, whether the U.S. will treat Europe and Ukraine as partners as they try to end this war.