Mr Trump, who previously claimed he could end the conflict in 24 hours, once again suggested the illegal invasion would not have happened on his watch, and could be even worse
The Russian invasion of Ukraine would have turned into World War Three if Donald Trump hadn’t become President, he has claimed.
Mr Trump, who previously claimed he could end the conflict in 24 hours, once again suggested the illegal invasion would not have happened on his watch, and would be even worse if he’d lost to Kamala Harris.
The US President, who had rolled out the red carpet for Vladimir Putin, also claimed Europe were not handling the crisis well.
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Speaking with Politico, he said: “It’s a war that should’ve never happened. Frankly, it wouldn’t have happened if I were president, and it didn’t happen for four years.
“I watched that taking place, and I said, wow, they’re gonna cause some problems here.
“And it started and it, uh, could’ve evolved into, uh, World War III, frankly. I think it’s probably not gonna be happening now. I think if I weren’t president, you could’ve had World War III.
“I think you would’ve had a much bigger problem than you have right now, but right now it’s a big problem. It’s a big problem for Europe. And they’re not handling it well.”
Mr Trump described the war as a “sad thing for humanity”, and repeated his false claim that the Joe Biden administration had paid Ukraine $350 billion. The true figure is closer to $134 billion.
The US president, who was recently awarded FIFA’s new Peace Prize, also boasted of settling “so many wars”.
He continued: “I do it pretty routinely, pretty easily. It’s not hard for me to do. t’s what I do. I make deals. This one is tough. One of the reasons is the level of hatred between Putin and Zelenskyy is tremendous.”
Mr Trump also repeated his attacks on Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, while claiming Europe would soon stop having “viable countries”.
He said: “If you take a look at Paris, it’s a much different place. I loved Paris. It’s a much different place than it was. If you take a look at London, you have a mayor named Khan. He’s a horrible mayor. He’s an incompetent mayor, but he’s a horrible, vicious, disgusting mayor. I think he’s done a terrible job. London’s a different place. I love London. I love London. And I hate to see it happen.”