The Wall Street Journal reports that former President Donald Trump claimed he warned Russian President Vladimir Putin of severe consequences if Russia were to invade Ukraine.
During a meeting with the Journal’s editorial board, Trump recounted telling Putin: “Vladimir, if you go after Ukraine, I am going to hit you so hard, you’re not even going to believe it. I’m going to hit you right in the middle of fricking Moscow.”
According to the Journal, Trump elaborated on his alleged conversation with Putin: “I said, ‘We’re friends. I don’t want to do it, but I have no choice.’ He goes, ‘No way.’ I said, ‘Way.’ I said, ‘You’re going to be hit so hard, and I’m going to take those f— domes right off your head.'”
The former president’s comments came during a 90-minute meeting at the Journal’s New York offices, during which he discussed a range of topics, including foreign policy, immigration, and his criticisms of the newspaper.
Washington Post editor Bob Woodward wrote about Trump’s alleged conversations with Putin after 2021 in his book “War,” citing a source close to the former president.
At the same time, an unnamed Trump aide quoted in the book noted that the former president probably spoke with Putin as many as seven times after Trump left the White House in 2021.
Trump refused to confirm or deny information about phone calls with Vladimir Putin after he left the White House in 2021.
Donald Trump has recently refused to state whether he wants Ukraine to win the war and has described Zelensky as a “salesman” who “should never have let that war start.”
Trump also held Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Joe Biden responsible for the fact that Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine happened at all.
President Zelenskyy and Donald Trump met in late September.
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