Former U.S. President Donald Trump suggested at a fundraising event that he would have bombed Moscow in response to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Washington Post (WP) reported on May 28, citing several anonymous donors and advisers.
In a piece detailing some of the claims and demands the former U.S. president has made while on a fundraising drive for his current presidential bid, the paper also said he would attack Beijing if China invaded Taiwan on his watch.
According to WP, Trump's comments "surprised some of the donors."
Trump has not publicly threatened to bomb Moscow but, in a phone call leaked in March 2022, Trump told a friend he had privately made such a threat to Russian President Vladimir Putin himself.
Publicly, Trump described Putin as a "genius" in the days leading up to Russia's full-scale invasion when Moscow moved troops into eastern Ukraine.
He has also regularly claimed he could stop the war in Ukraine "in 24 hours" though he has never publicly stated how he would do this.
The Washington Post wrote on April 7, citing anonymous sources, that Trump had privately said he could end it by pressuring Ukraine to cede Crimea and Donbas to Moscow.
According to the Washington Post, Trump also said he believes that both Moscow and Kyiv "want to save face, they want a way out," claiming that Ukrainians in Russian-occupied territories would not object to being part of Russia."
If the deal and the idea is simply to give our territories, then it is very primitive," President Volodymyr Zelensky said in response.
Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee for the 2024 U.S. presidential election, going up against incumbent President Joe Biden.
In a bid to raise the gigantic sums necessary to run a presidential campaign, WP also reports Trump as telling both new and regular donors they would have to significantly increase what they're offering.
One businessman who usually gave Republicans $2-3 million would have to give a $25 million or $50 million contribution or he would not be "very happy."
Kateryna Denisova
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