Trump touts ‘very good relationship’ with Putin ahead of one-year anniversary of Russia’s war in Ukraine
Donald Trump boasted about his “very good” relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of the one-year anniversary of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
On Monday night, the former president also defended his previous claim that he trusted Mr Putin over US intelligence.
“Putin never ever would have gone into Ukraine if I were president,” Mr Trump claimed at a rally in Florida, according to Rolling Stone. “I actually had a very good relationship” with Mr Putin.
Mr Trump appeared at an event hosted at the Hilton Palm Beach Airport hotel on Presidents’ Day.
“Remember when [the press] hit me with a question – ‘Who do you trust … your intelligence people, Comey, McCabe, Strzok, Lisa Page, Or Putin?’ And I said you know, that could be the toughest question I’ve ever been asked as a politician. And then when I really didn’t give them a very good answer in terms of exactness … all hell broke loose. But that’s okay, you know, that’s okay. And it turned out I was right. I was right about that, too,” he claimed.
In 2018, during a summit with Mr Putin in Helsinki, Finland, Mr Trump was asked if he trusted the conclusion of US intelligence that Russia had interfered in the 2016 US election or if he believed Mr Putin’s rejection of those allegations.
In response, Mr Trump appeared to suggest that he believed Mr Putin.
“I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today,” he said at the time.
Mr Trump is praising Mr Putin as President Joe Biden made a surprise visit to Kyiv to demonstrate the continuity and strength of US support for Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky recently visited Washington DC and spoke in front of the US Congress.
Mr Biden travelled to the Ukrainian capital by train from Poland to meet with Mr Zelensky, arriving in the early morning.
“One year later, Kyiv stands. And Ukraine stands. Democracy stands,” Mr Biden said. “The Americans stand with you and the world stands with you.”
Mr Trump mentioned his relationship with Mr Putin amid other more regularly used rally material. He claimed that the US is moving towards becoming a “communist” and “Marxist” country under the leadership of Mr Biden.
He slammed what he called the “bad” immigrants that he wants to have deported.
He suggested that former South Carolina Governor and Trump administration ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, who recently announced her 2024 campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, was standing at “no per cent” in GOP primary polling.
Mr Trump also slammed his anticipated top 2024 opponent for the nomination – Florida GOP Governor Ron DeSantis, who’s expected to run.
“I did get 1.2 million more votes” in Florida “than Ron — 1.2 million more votes!” he boasted without mentioning that the voter turnout in a presidential election cycle is nearly always much higher than in midterm years.
“Ron did good in Florida, but I did great,” Mr Trump said.
