WORLD NEWS FOR MONTENEGRO DIASPORA
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AUTHOR:M.J. GDNUS
US President Donald Trump said at a private fundraising event last year that he once tried to stop Russian President Vladimir Putin from invading Ukraine by threatening to “blow Moscow to the ground,” according to an audio recording provided to CNN.
“I told Putin, ‘If you go into Ukraine, I’ll blow Moscow to the ground. I’m telling you, I have no choice,’” Trump said during a 2024 fundraiser, according to the recording. “And he was like, ‘I don’t trust you.’ But he trusted me 10 percent.”
Trump later claimed to have made a similar threat to Chinese President Xi Jinping if he attacked Taiwan, telling him the U.S. would bomb Beijing in response.
“He thought I was crazy,” Trump said of Xi Jinping, adding that “we never had a problem.”
The remarks, made by Trump as he sought a second term, were recorded in a series of audio recordings from fundraising events in New York and Florida that were later obtained by Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager and Isaac Arnsdorf and featured in their new book, “2024.” The recordings had not previously been released to the public. The Trump campaign declined to comment on the content of the recordings.
The audio shows the unfiltered side of Trump that he was willing to show behind closed doors to attract wealthy donors—talking not only about his sometimes aggressive foreign policy, but also about deporting student protesters and his stance that “people on welfare will always vote Democrat.”
Trump has cited conversations with Putin and Xi Jinping as he claims he would have prevented the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza if he were president instead of Joe Biden — a claim he has repeatedly repeated as he now works to end both wars.
Yesterday, Trump again expressed frustration with Putin’s refusal to agree to a peace deal, complaining that the Russian leader is “spewing a lot of nonsense” at the United States.
“I’m not happy with Putin,” he said during a Cabinet meeting. “I’m very unhappy with them.”
At one fundraiser, Trump boasted about how he had pressured wealthy allies to donate tens of millions of dollars to his campaign. At another, he announced his administration’s plans to deport student protesters, in addition to recounting conversations with foreign leaders.
“One thing I would do is throw every student protesting out of the country,” Trump said at another closed-door event, vowing to crack down on pro-Palestinian demonstrations on college campuses. "Those people made a big mistake. Kick them out of the country, and I think that would stop the protests."
