The way Donald Trump views Russia has changed. Despite his initial seeming softness toward Russian President Vladimir Putin, a leaked audio clip that CNN was able to get indicates otherwise. Russia has responded to Trump’s purported allegation that he threatened to bomb Moscow.
Russia and the United States have a complicated relationship. Three years ago, Russia invaded Ukraine, changing the world and the relationship between Russia and the United States, among many other nations.
Before taking office in January, Donald Trump claimed to have a good connection with Vladimir Putin and promised to put an end to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine within 24 hours. Although that did not occur, Trump had multiple phone conversations with the Russian president during the time.
Regarding Putin at the time, Trump stated: “I mean, I know him very well, and I think he wants peace.” Yes, it seems to me that he desires peace. If he didn’t, I believe he would tell me. I have faith in him regarding this matter.
Today, though, things are very different. The peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine have failed, and Donald Trump claimed on Tuesday that Putin was “throwing a lot of bullsh*t at the US” in reference to his opposition to a peace agreement. At a Cabinet meeting, Donald Trump declared, “I’m not happy with Putin.” “I’m not happy with them at all.”
Although Donald Trump hasn’t been particularly critical of Putin in the media, it seems like he had different plans last year. CNN said on Tuesday that they acquired recordings from Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign in which he warned funders that he would “bomb the sh*t out of Moscov to retaliate if Putin would attack Ukraine.” “I told Putin that I would blow the living daylights out of Moscow if he invaded Ukraine. According to CNN, Trump stated, “I’m telling you I have no choice,” at a 2024 fundraiser. He trusted me 10%, but then [Putin] said, ‘I don’t believe you.’”
Later, Donald Trump asserted that he had sent a similar warning to Chinese President Xi Jinping about a possible invasion of Taiwan. It was about bombing Beijing at the moment. Regarding Xi, Trump claimed that “we never had a problem” and that “he thought I was crazy.” Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager, and Isaac Arnsdorf had also acquired the audio cassettes and described part of the conversations in their book, 2024.
Regarding the audio tapes that CNN was able to get, neither Donald Trump nor his administration have spoken. It is unclear when and when the purported conversation between Trump and Putin occurred, even though the news site stated that the recording was from 2024.
Donald Trump’s assertions on the audio tape were quickly refuted by the Kremlin. The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, did neither confirm or deny that Trump had cautioned Putin about Ukraine, according to a report published by Newsweek on Wednesday, which cited the Russian state news agency TASS. In the meantime, he said that when Trump wasn’t the US president, the two had not spoken on the phone. Peskov stated, “The truth is that there were no telephone conversations back then.” After all, from what I gather, we are discussing the time before Trump was elected president of the United States.
“We also don’t know if this is real or not. Fakes are common these days. Fakes are frequently far more prevalent than accurate information. And when we examine specific news, we always start with this,” Peskov continued.
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