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Donald Trump Says Putin Assured Him He Would Not Invade Ukraine While He Was PresidentBY GERRARD KAONGA
NEWSWEEK
ON 3/11/22
Donald Trump claimed the Ukraine invasion wouldn't have happened while he was president, citing a conversation he had with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The former president spoke with Fox News' Sean Hannity on Thursday night and discussed the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Trump also reflected on the withdrawal from Afghanistan under President Joe Biden and insisted that world leaders had lost respect for the U.S. as a result.
"When this horrible situation happened in Afghanistan, it is not even believable how incompetent it was, the way in which they withdrew or surrendered or whatever you want to call it," Trump said.
"Bad things started happening for our country, the border is bad, a lot of things are bad, inflation is bad.
"But the way they got out of Afghanistan looked like a complete surrender.
"I'll tell you Vladimir Putin was watching and Xi Jinping and the leaders of Iran were watching and Kim Jong-un was watching, North Korea, they were all watching, Sean.
"Bad things started to happen, they no longer respected our country and this is how it all came about."
Conversation With Putin
Hannity then questioned how Trump could say with such confidence that nothing would have happened while he was president.
"I had a very strong conversation with President Putin and he understood and I won't go into the great details of the conversation because no one has to know that," Trump told Hannity.
"But I will tell you that it never would have happened if I was president.
"If we had the Trump administration in there like we had tremendous years, tremendous success, economy, energy independence, the largest tax cuts in the history of our country which helped bring about the greatest economy we have ever had.
"This would have never ever happened."
Trump then closed by commenting on the horror of the war facing the Ukrainian people and insisted that it needed to stop.
Newsweek has contacted Donald Trump for comment.
Many Trump supporters and conservatives have echoed his confidence regarding the timing of Russia's invasion.
This includes his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, who this week insisted that Donald Trump had exuded strength as president.
"Obviously Donald Trump, he is a guy that nobody wanted to mess with. He exuded strength and you have a very different situation on your hands right now."
She continued: "We didn't have this sort of thing happening under Donald Trump.
"That is what happens when you put a weak and inept person in the office of president of the United States."
Despite this criticism, President Biden has been able to win some support for his handling of the Ukraine situation. This support has come from those who would regularly be critical of his leadership, namely Republican senators.
"I think there's broad support for the president in what he's doing now. Our biggest complaint is, what took him so long?" Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said last week.
Senator Mitt Romney also praised Biden's leadership on sanctions against Russia.
"The president has successfully brought together our friends and allies to coordinate a unified and powerful response to Putin's actions," Romney said after Biden's State of the Union speech.
Donald Trump claimed the Ukraine invasion wouldn't have happened while he was president, citing a conversation he had with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The former president spoke with Fox News' Sean Hannity on Thursday night and discussed the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Trump also reflected on the withdrawal from Afghanistan under President Joe Biden and insisted that world leaders had lost respect for the U.S. as a result.
"When this horrible situation happened in Afghanistan, it is not even believable how incompetent it was, the way in which they withdrew or surrendered or whatever you want to call it," Trump said.
"Bad things started happening for our country, the border is bad, a lot of things are bad, inflation is bad.
"But the way they got out of Afghanistan looked like a complete surrender.
"I'll tell you Vladimir Putin was watching and Xi Jinping and the leaders of Iran were watching and Kim Jong-un was watching, North Korea, they were all watching, Sean.
"Bad things started to happen, they no longer respected our country and this is how it all came about."
Conversation With Putin
Hannity then questioned how Trump could say with such confidence that nothing would have happened while he was president.
"I had a very strong conversation with President Putin and he understood and I won't go into the great details of the conversation because no one has to know that," Trump told Hannity.
"But I will tell you that it never would have happened if I was president.
"If we had the Trump administration in there like we had tremendous years, tremendous success, economy, energy independence, the largest tax cuts in the history of our country which helped bring about the greatest economy we have ever had.
"This would have never ever happened."
Trump then closed by commenting on the horror of the war facing the Ukrainian people and insisted that it needed to stop.
Newsweek has contacted Donald Trump for comment.
Many Trump supporters and conservatives have echoed his confidence regarding the timing of Russia's invasion.
This includes his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, who this week insisted that Donald Trump had exuded strength as president.
"Obviously Donald Trump, he is a guy that nobody wanted to mess with. He exuded strength and you have a very different situation on your hands right now."
She continued: "We didn't have this sort of thing happening under Donald Trump.
"That is what happens when you put a weak and inept person in the office of president of the United States."
Despite this criticism, President Biden has been able to win some support for his handling of the Ukraine situation. This support has come from those who would regularly be critical of his leadership, namely Republican senators.
"I think there's broad support for the president in what he's doing now. Our biggest complaint is, what took him so long?" Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said last week.
Senator Mitt Romney also praised Biden's leadership on sanctions against Russia.
"The president has successfully brought together our friends and allies to coordinate a unified and powerful response to Putin's actions," Romney said after Biden's State of the Union speech.
President Vladimir Putin attends the Russian Geographical Society's Trustee Council meeting in Saint Petersburg on April 27, 2018. Donald Trump makes an entrance at the Rally To Protect Our Elections conference on July 24, 2021, in Phoenix, Arizona. Trump claimed that Putin gave assurances that he would not invade during his presidency.
MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV AND BRANDON BELL/GETTY IMAGES
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