Donald Trump told Elon Musk last night that he may have stopped Vladimir Putin from invading Ukraine.
The former U. S. president, who is seeking re-election on the Republican ticket, spoke with the head of X in a long and disjointed two-hour interview.
Trump said he “knows” North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Putin, saying, “They’re cruel. “
Taking aim at outgoing President Joe Biden and his Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump said: “When they see Kamala or Joe sleeping, they can’t do it. “
He then reiterated his past claims about his supposedly strong ties with Putin in particular, saying: “I know Putin very well, I got along very well with him, he respected me and this is just one of the things, and we were talking together. Very much about Ukraine! It’s the apple of his eye!
“But I told him, ‘Never do that. ‘”
Recalling a specific verbal exchange between them, he said: “I told Vladimir Putin: ‘Don’t do it. ‘You can’t do it, Vladimir, do it, it’s going to be a bad day, you can’t do it.
“And I said things to him, which I did, and he said ‘no way’ and I said ‘fine,'” Trump said.
However, the United States president also highlighted the strength of Moscow’s army, saying: “Russia defeated Germany with us and defeated Napoleon. You know, they’ve been around for a long time.
“It’s a significant fighting force and it’s very unfair . . . We are in a very bad position. ” And I’m going to blame him alone, but I can tell you that he may have stopped this,” he added.
He then said he had shut down Nord Stream 2, the pipeline that leaves Russia and heads to Europe.
In reality, it was Germany that froze the task in February 2022, after Putin invaded Ukraine and Trump imposed sanctions on Russia over the pipeline in 2017.
Trump said: “Biden came in and said he enjoyed Russia, that he was friends with Putin and he enjoyed Russia, no. He [Putin] once told me: If you’re my friend, I’d hate to do it. ” . he considers you an enemy. I shut the pipe off of him!
He warned that Russia would not have invaded Ukraine without Biden, a claim Musk did not deny and described as a “sweet spot. “