‘I got along with Putin’ – Trump

Former U.S. President Donald Trump.
©Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Former US president and Republican Party frontrunner in the race for the Oval Office Donald Trump has said that when he was US President he maintained good working relations with his Russian colleague, Vladimir Putin, and with leaders of several other countries seen by Washington as adversaries. He also insisted that the Ukraine conflict would never have come to pass had he been in office instead of Joe Biden.

Trump has on multiple occasions claimed that he will be able to put an end to hostilities between Kiev and Moscow within 24 hours if he becomes president again.

President Biden’s leadership, or lack thereof, has plunged the whole world into a “mess,” he lamented in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Thursday.

“We have the worst president in history,” the GOP frontrunner told Hannity.

He suggested that the incumbent US head of state “can’t put two sentences together” or “find his way off the stage when he makes a very short speech.” More importantly, according to Trump, President Biden “can’t negotiate,” thus undermining the US’ global standing.

The Republican firebrand speculated that, had he been in power in Washington at the time, [President] “Putin would’ve never attacked Ukraine.”

“I got along with Putin,” he explained, adding that “it’s good to get along with people, like Putin and like others.” The once-again aspiring US president went on to claim that he had a “great relationship” with Chinese President Xi Jinping, and with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Of Viktor Orban, Prime Minister of Hungary, at one point during the interview the Republican frontrunner described him as a “very tough guy, very smart guy, brilliant guy, very respected.”

Addressing his supporters in Des Moines, Iowa, after securing a record margin of victory in that state’s Republican caucuses on Monday night, Trump said: “I know President Putin very well, I know Zelensky well. I’m gonna get them in, we’re gonna get it solved very quickly.”

Last month, the US politician quoted President Putin as having said last September that President Biden’s “politically motivated persecution of his political rival is very good for Russia because it shows the rottenness of the American political system, which cannot pretend to teach others about democracy.”

In recent months, Trump has found himself at the center of several court battles, four of which have resulted in indictments. He faces a total of 91 criminal counts.

Despite his legal troubles, he has been comfortably leading the race for the Republican nomination.