President Trump began a highly anticipated meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart making light of the controversy surrounding their previous conversation.

Trump said Volodymyr Zelensky was "more famous" than he. And he praised him for "very strongly looking into all sorts of corruption."

Trump said Zelensky's reputation was "absolutely sterling" and noted they'd "spoken a couple of times."

Pointing to the press, Trump said, "They'd like to hear every single word."

But he noted the aides that were present, saying there would be witnesses to his first sit-down with Zelensky.

See the moment here: