Former U.S. President Donald Trump praised Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban as a "fantastic leader" while hosting him at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida on March 8.
Orban has a long-standing relationship with conservatives in the U.S. and is the only European leader who is openly friendly toward the Kremlin. Trump has spoken highly of Orban on several occasions since leaving the White House in 2021.
Trump, who is poised to become the Republican party's presidential nominee in the 2024 election, was seen making the remarks in a video shared on Orban's Instagram account.
“There’s nobody that’s better, smarter, or a better leader than Viktor Orban… He’s the boss, and he’s a great leader, a fantastic leader. In Europe and around the world, they respect him,” Trump said, calling Orban “a noncontroversial figure.”
During the trip to the U.S., Orban and Trump discussed "a wide range of issues affecting Hungary and the U.S., including the paramount importance of strong and secure borders to protect the sovereignty of each nation," Trump’s campaign statement read.
U.S. President Joe Biden criticized the meeting of the two, saying that Orban was “looking for dictatorship.”
Orban previously said that only the return of Trump to the White House “could bring peace to Ukraine,” which has been fighting off Russia’s full-scale invasion for over two years.
Trump has long criticized U.S. aid to Ukraine, a position in line with his "America First" foreign policy views. He has claimed that he would be able to negotiate peace in Ukraine within 24 hours, although he did not elaborate on concrete steps to achieve this.
Trump's sway over the Republican party has contributed to the continuing deadlock in Congress over U.S. aid to Ukraine. The Senate passed a funding bill containing $60 billion in aid for Ukraine earlier in February, but House Speaker Mike Johnson has so far declined to bring it to a vote.
Timothy Ash
(Updated: )
