Trump Says Ukraine Crisis Could Have Been Averted If He Was President, Praises Putin

Former US president Donald Trump earlier on Tuesday claimed that if he was still in White House Russian president Vladimir Putin would not have dared to invade Ukraine. He also shot a warning to Taiwan saying that Chinese president Xi Jinping will make a move soon.

“I knew that he always wanted Ukraine. I used to talk to him about it. I said, “You can’t do it. You’re not gonna do it.” But I could see that he wanted it. I used to ask him. We used to talk about it at length. I think nobody probably knows him better,” Trump said in an interview with Clay Travis and Buck Sexton.

He also praised Putin for recognising the rebel-held eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk calling it a smart move. “This is genius. Putin declares a big portion of Ukraine as independent. Oh, that’s wonderful,” Trump said.

“No, but think of it. Here’s a guy who’s very savvy… I know him very well. Very, very well. By the way, this never would have happened with us. Had I been in office, not even thinkable,” he further added.

Trump also warned during his appearance on the show that Taiwan is next in line. “I got to know President Xi. China is gonna… It’s almost like twin sisters right here because you have one that wants Taiwan, I think, equally badly,” Trump said. He also said that North Korea did not ‘act up’ in the last four years. This can be debated, as Kim Jong Un following his summit with Trump in 2018 abandoned the self-imposed moratorium on missile tests that year while Trump was still in office. Even Xi rushed several warplanes into Taiwan’s defence zone when Trump was in office.

Trump also chose to ignore the fact that Russia was fuelling an insurgency in Donetsk and Luhansk when Trump was in office as the tensions between both nations began in 2014 when former US president Barack Obama was in power.

Trump also halted a congressionally approved military aid to Ukraine when he was in power and told Ukrainian president Zelensky that he would release it if Zelensky launched investigations into Biden and his son Hunter over baseless allegations of corruption. Trump faced bipartisan wrath when he sided with Putin claiming that his own country’s intelligence officials were wrong in alleging that Russia interfered in the 2016 elections.

Read the Latest News and Breaking News here