132 occasions, 2007–2026, on which he adopted Russia's position, eased or withheld pressure on Moscow, sided with Vladimir Putin over U.S. agencies or allies, or deferred to him in public. Each entry records what he said, what he did, and what followed, including where he later reversed course.
Ukraine
41occasions
Military aid, territory, NATO membership and the terms of a peace deal.
“Well, he'll have to like it. And if he doesn't like it, then, you know, they should just keep fighting, I guess.”
Sanctions lifted, delayed or not imposed, and deadlines that passed without consequence.
“Well, if there were some, I would do it just to take a little of the pressure off.”
· Aboard Air Force One, asked about the Treasury's Russian oil waiver · What happened →
“Well, because I think there's a chance of getting something done, and then if you do that, you can also make it much worse. But there could be a time where that's going to happen.”
· Exchange with reporters at the White House · What happened →
“Yes, we'll do sanctions. As soon as they very much deserve it, we will have—that is a question. There has been nobody tougher on Russia than President Donald Trump.”
· News conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Palm Beach, Florida · What happened →
Siding with Putin over U.S. agencies, election interference and classified information.
“It's not the right time to do any of that and can't do it. And I learned about it from President Putin today. I was very angry about it.”
· Mar-a-Lago, Palm Beach, Florida, exchange with reporters during a greeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu · What happened →
“My people came to me—Dan Coats came to me and some others—they said they think it's Russia. I have President Putin; he just said it's not Russia. I will say this: I don't see any reason why it would be, but I really do want to see the...”
· Joint news conference with Vladimir Putin, Helsinki, Finland · What happened →
“As President I wanted to share with Russia (at an openly scheduled W.H. meeting) which I have the absolute right to do, facts pertaining.... ...to terrorism and airline flight safety. Humanitarian reasons, plus I want Russia to greatly step...”
· Oval Office meeting with Sergey Lavrov and Sergey Kislyak (quote from Twitter, May 16, 2017) · What happened →
“One of the presidents of a big country stood up, said, "Well, sir, if we don't pay and we're attacked by Russia, will you protect us?" I said, "You didn't pay. You're delinquent?" He said, "Yes, let's say that happened." "No, I would not...”
“And in the G-7, which used to be the G-8, they threw Russia out. They should let Russia come back in. Because we should have Russia at the negotiating table.”
· Exchange with reporters at the White House before departing for the G7 summit in Canada · What happened →
“Well, I don't know that they're enabling. I mean, I will tell you that President Xi said he will not partake, and President Putin said the same thing. I think—you know, I trust them.”
· Oval Office, exchange with reporters at a nuclear energy event; Truth Social
On July 21, 2026 Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told the Senate Appropriations Committee that both Russia and China were 'enabling' Iran's war effort against the United States 'at different levels.' On July 24 Trump posted that Putin 'told me that he would not sell Weapons to Iran' and that the two countries were 'in my opinion, not participating,' and told reporters he trusted both leaders' assurances, adding 'I don't think they'd want to have me disappointed.' The Independent reported that Moscow and Beijing had supplied intelligence and technical help to Tehran, including satellite reconnaissance imagery used for targeting. On July 27, asked about Zelensky's statement that Russia was giving Iran satellite imagery of U.S. bases, he said 'I'll ask Putin about it' and 'I don't think they've been doing it. Certainly not at a high level.' His post also said he did not sell weapons to Ukraine but to NATO countries and had 'no idea' how they were distributed.
“And I want to thank Vladimir Putin. He was very neutral. They could have made it much more difficult for us. And I want to say it.”
· News conference at the G7 summit, Évian-les-Bains, France
Closing the G7 summit in Évian, he thanked Xi Jinping and Putin for staying 'neutral' during the U.S. war with Iran, saying Russia 'could have made it much more difficult for us.' The Kyiv Independent noted this contradicted multiple reports, including a statement by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that Russia had been aiding Iran with intelligence and weapons. He spent under two minutes on Ukraine, describing a June 14 call with Putin and a 'very, very good conversation' with Zelensky, and said 'they both want to do something. They just don't know how to do it.' A planned second meeting with Zelensky at the summit did not take place. Asked the same day whether sanctions on Russia would be reimposed, he said 'we are looking at that' and tied it to the price of oil.
“I am pleased to announce that there will be a THREE DAY CEASEFIRE (May 9th, 10th, and 11th) in the War between Russia and Ukraine. The Celebration in Russia is for Victory Day but, likewise, in Ukraine, because they were also a big part and factor of World War II.”
· Truth Social and White House statement
In early May 2026 Russia's defense ministry demanded that hostilities cease on May 8 and 9 so that Moscow could hold its Victory Day parade, threatening a 'massive missile strike on the centre of Kyiv' if not, while Zelensky offered an open-ended ceasefire from May 6 and said Russia feared 'drones may buzz over Red Square.' On May 8 Trump announced a three-day ceasefire for May 9 to 11 and a swap of 1,000 prisoners each, saying the request 'was made directly by me' and that both Putin and Zelensky 'agreed' to it 'readily.' Asked why he had asked Zelensky 'for a ceasefire that Putin wanted,' he said 'everyone is happy.' Both sides accused each other of violations, and the pause was described as a humanitarian one rather than a settlement. He said he would like 'a big extension'; the war continued, with about 25,000 soldiers a month killed by his own account.
“But when they threw out President Putin, he was very offended by that. He was, you know, rightfully—but he was very offended by that. I venture to say you probably wouldn't be having these problems if you didn't throw him out.”
· White House, exchange with reporters on the situation in Israel and Lebanon
Asked about reports that he would invite Putin to the December 2026 G20 summit at his Doral resort in Miami, he said Putin's attendance 'would be probably very helpful,' that it had been 'a stupid thing' for Barack Obama and Justin Trudeau to expel Russia from the G8 after the 2014 annexation of Crimea, and that Putin was 'rightfully' offended. A senior administration official confirmed the same day that all G20 members, including Russia, would be invited to ministerial meetings and the leaders' summit. The Kremlin said Putin had not decided whether to attend; he had not attended a G20 in person since 2019 and faces an ICC arrest warrant. In 2025 the 28-point plan he backed had proposed inviting Russia to rejoin the G8.
“Well, if there were some, I would do it just to take a little of the pressure off.”
· Aboard Air Force One, asked about the Treasury's Russian oil waiver
After the U.S. war with Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz and pushed Brent crude above $100, the Treasury on March 5, 2026 licensed the delivery and sale to India of Russian crude loaded on vessels as of that date, and on March 12 extended the authorization to any country for Russian oil in transit; a separate license lifted sanctions on Rosneft's German subsidiary. The waivers eased the Rosneft and Lukoil sanctions imposed in October 2025. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the measure was 'deliberately short-term' and would not provide 'significant financial benefit' to Russia. Asked whether he was considering further moves, Trump said he would 'take a little of the pressure off.' Senator Jeanne Shaheen said the president was 'filling the Kremlin's war coffers' as Russia helped Iran target Americans. The waivers were extended by 30 days in April and again in May 2026; in June he said sanctions might be reimposed 'depending on how far the price of oil comes down.' The White House had also dropped the 25 percent Russian-oil tariff on India in February 2026.
“I think he's ready to make a deal. I think Ukraine is less ready to make a deal.”
· Oval Office, interview with Reuters
Asked in a Reuters interview why U.S.-led negotiations had not ended the war, he answered 'Zelenskiy,' and said Putin was 'ready to make a deal' while Ukraine was 'less ready.' Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the next day: 'I agree, that is indeed the case.' European allies had consistently argued that Moscow had little interest in ending the fighting. Ukraine had by then accepted U.S. security-guarantee terms it described as fully agreed and said the 20-point plan was 90 percent complete, and had floated a demilitarized or free economic zone in Donetsk; Russia still demanded that Ukraine withdraw from parts of Donetsk it had not captured. The remarks came two weeks after the CIA found Putin's claim of a Ukrainian attack on his residence to be untrue.
“It's not the right time to do any of that and can't do it. And I learned about it from President Putin today. I was very angry about it.”
· Mar-a-Lago, Palm Beach, Florida, exchange with reporters during a greeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu
The day after his Mar-a-Lago meeting with Zelensky, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claimed Ukraine had launched 91 drones at Putin's residence near Valdai in the Novgorod region; Ukraine denied it. Trump told reporters Putin had told him of it by phone early that morning, that it was 'no good,' and that he was 'very angry about it,' adding that he had 'stopped the Tomahawks' for Ukraine. Asked whether U.S. intelligence had evidence, he said 'it's possible' no attack took place 'but President Putin told me this morning it did.' The CIA assessed that Ukraine had not targeted the residence, and Director John Ratcliffe briefed him on December 31; EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called the Russian claim a 'deliberate distraction.' On January 4, 2026 he said, 'I don't believe that strike happened' and that something had happened 'fairly nearby, but had nothing to do with his house.'
“Russia is going to be helping. Russia wants to see Ukraine succeed. Once—it sounds a little strange, but I was explaining to the President: President Putin was very generous in his feeling toward Ukraine succeeding, including supplying energy, electricity, and other things at very low prices.”
· Mar-a-Lago, Palm Beach, Florida, news conference with President Zelensky
Before hosting Zelensky at Mar-a-Lago he spoke with Putin for what he called an 'excellent' call of about two and a half hours (the Kremlin said over an hour). Asked whether Russia would share responsibility for rebuilding Ukraine, he said Russia 'wants to see Ukraine succeed' and would supply energy 'at very low prices.' The night before, Russia had attacked Kyiv with ballistic missiles and drones, killing at least one person and wounding 27; that morning Russian bombs killed a man in Sloviansk. He said the two sides were 'closer than ever before' to a deal, that Putin had not agreed to a ceasefire, and that 'in a few weeks, we will know one way or the other.' Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said a 'bold, responsible, political decision is needed from Kyiv' on the Donbas. Zelensky said the 20-point plan was '90 percent agreed.'
“You know, they talk about a democracy, but it gets to a point where it's not a democracy anymore.”
· Interview with Politico, published December 9, 2025
In a Politico interview he said it was 'an important time to hold an election' in Ukraine, that Kyiv was 'using war' to avoid one, and that 'at some point, size will win' because 'Russia has the upper hand.' Moscow had demanded new Ukrainian elections as a condition of any deal and called Zelensky illegitimate; Ukraine's constitution bars elections under martial law. He called European leaders 'weak' and their countries 'decaying,' days after his National Security Strategy warned Europe of 'civilisational erasure' and did not describe Russia as a threat, a document the Kremlin called 'largely consistent' with its own vision. Two days earlier he had said 'Russia is fine with' the U.S. plan and that he was 'disappointed' Zelensky had not read it. Zelensky responded that Ukraine was 'ready for elections' within 60 to 90 days if allies guaranteed security; Ukrainian opposition figures and pollsters said wartime elections were 'exactly what Putin would want' and had about 10 percent public support.
“Well, I haven't heard it. No. But I—that's a standard thing, you know, because he's got to sell this to Ukraine. He's got to sell Ukraine to Russia. That's what he's—that's what a dealmaker does.”
· Aboard Air Force One en route to West Palm Beach, Florida
Bloomberg published a transcript of an October 14, 2025 call in which envoy Steve Witkoff advised Putin's foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov to have Putin congratulate Trump on the Gaza deal, call him 'a man of peace,' and phone him before Zelensky's White House visit; Witkoff also said a deal would take 'Donetsk and maybe a land swap somewhere' and suggested a 20-point plan modeled on Gaza. Ushakov did not dispute the call's authenticity, and a second transcript had Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev saying Russia would 'make this paper from our position' and pass it along informally. The Putin call that followed on October 16 preceded Trump's reversal on Tomahawks. Asked about the recording, Trump said it was 'a very standard form of negotiation' and that Witkoff was 'not' too pro-Russian. The same day he described Russia's 'big concession' as 'they stop fighting and they don't take any more land,' and sent Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Moscow, where they met Putin for about five hours on December 2; Ushakov said afterward there was 'no compromise' on territory.
“UKRAINE "LEADERSHIP" HAS EXPRESSED ZERO GRATITUDE FOR OUR EFFORTS, AND EUROPE CONTINUES TO BUY OIL FROM RUSSIA.”
· Truth Social
On the morning U.S. and Ukrainian delegations met in Geneva to revise the 28-point plan, he posted that the war 'would have NEVER HAPPENED' with 'proper U.S. and Ukrainian LEADERSHIP,' that Putin 'would never have attacked' had the 2020 election not been 'RIGGED & STOLEN,' and that Ukraine's leadership had 'EXPRESSED ZERO GRATITUDE FOR OUR EFFORTS.' Zelensky had publicly thanked the United States two days earlier and the Ukrainian delegation in Geneva 'reaffirmed its gratitude' to Trump personally in the joint statement issued that day. The post repeated a formulation Putin used in Alaska, that the war would not have started had Trump been president. The Geneva talks produced what both sides called an 'updated and refined peace framework' that later became a 20-point plan.
“Well, he'll have to like it. And if he doesn't like it, then, you know, they should just keep fighting, I guess.”
· Oval Office, exchange with reporters
The 28-point plan presented to Kyiv in November 2025 was worked out by envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev in Miami in late October, without Ukrainian or European participation, according to Bloomberg reporting carried by Fortune. Its terms recognized Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk as de facto Russian, required Ukrainian forces to withdraw from the part of Donetsk they held, froze Kherson and Zaporizhzhia along the line of contact, capped Ukraine's army at 600,000, wrote a NATO bar into Ukraine's constitution, invited Russia back into the G8, lifted sanctions in stages, granted a 'full amnesty' for wartime actions and required Ukrainian elections within 100 days. Trump said Thanksgiving, November 27, was an 'appropriate' deadline for Zelensky to sign and that Ukraine could not stop Russia from taking the Donbas. Zelensky said Ukraine faced a choice between 'losing its dignity' and 'losing a key partner.' European leaders said the line of contact should be the starting point and the EU's Kaja Kallas warned a deal rewarding invasion would set a 'very dangerous' precedent. After U.S.-Ukraine talks in Geneva on November 23, the plan was revised and the deadline dropped; Trump said on November 25 he had no deadline.
“We're looking at it, because it's very difficult for him to get the oil and gas from other areas. As you know, they don't have—they don't have the advantage of having sea.”
· Cabinet Room, White House, working lunch with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán
On October 22, 2025 the Treasury sanctioned Rosneft and Lukoil, with the threat of secondary sanctions on entities buying from them. On November 7 Orbán asked for an exemption, and a White House official confirmed the same day that Hungary was exempted for one year; Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó described it as 'a full and unlimited exemption' and later said it was indefinite. Hungary relied on Russia for about 86 percent of its oil and 74 percent of its gas in 2024 and agreed to buy roughly $600 million of U.S. liquefied natural gas as part of the arrangement. During the meeting Orbán said only their two governments 'truly' wanted peace and that the belief Ukraine could win was 'a misunderstanding'; Trump asked, 'So you would say that Ukraine cannot win that war?' The BBC called the exemption a 'major victory for Orban' that flew 'in the face of' Trump's stated determination to penalize anyone doing business with Russia's energy companies.
“But I do say to you, you know, we need Tomahawks for the United States of America too. We have a lot of them, but we need them. I mean, we can't deplete for our country.”
· Oval Office, exchange with reporters after a phone call with Putin
In the days before Zelensky's October 17 visit, he had said he might send Ukraine Tomahawk cruise missiles if the war was not settled. On October 16 Putin initiated a call of more than two hours in which, according to Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov, he warned that supplying Tomahawks would cause 'substantial damage' to U.S.-Russian relations. Afterward Trump said the two would meet in Budapest and that the United States needed its Tomahawks. Zelensky left the White House the next day without the missiles, saying the United States 'does not want an escalation'; Trump posted that both sides should 'stop where they are.' The Financial Times and Reuters reported the meeting was tense and that he pressed Zelensky to accept Russia's terms on the Donbas, which the White House did not confirm; on October 19 he said 'we never discussed it.' On October 22 he said 'we're not going to be teaching other people' to use the weapon. The same day, after the Budapest summit was shelved, the Treasury sanctioned Rosneft and Lukoil.
“I am ready to do major Sanctions on Russia when all NATO Nations have agreed, and started, to do the same thing, and when all NATO Nations STOP BUYING OIL FROM RUSSIA.”
· Truth Social, posted as a letter to 'all NATO nations'
A week after saying he was ready for a 'second phase' of sanctions on Russia, he posted a letter making U.S. sanctions conditional on all NATO members agreeing to the same and ending purchases of Russian oil, and on NATO placing 50 to 100 percent tariffs on China. NATO members Turkey, Hungary and Slovakia were still buying Russian oil, and the EU remained a buyer of Russian gas, so the condition was not met. The post came three days after Russian drones entered Polish airspace and as Senator Lindsey Graham urged him to back the bipartisan sanctions bill he had introduced in July. Time magazine's headline was 'Trump Backs Off Promise to Sanction Russia for Ukraine War.' The Guardian noted he had 'repeatedly threatened Russia with additional sanctions, but so far he has failed to follow through.' He imposed sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil on October 22, 2025, without the NATO conditions having been met.
“It could have been a mistake. Could have been a mistake. But regardless, I'm not happy about anything having to do with that whole situation. But hopefully, it's going to come to an end.”
· South Lawn of the White House, exchange with reporters
On the night of September 9 to 10, 2025, Russian drones crossed into Poland during a mass attack on Ukraine; Polish and Dutch fighters shot several down and Poland recovered parts of 16 or 17 drones. Poland invoked NATO's Article 4, and Germany, the EU and other allies called the incursion deliberate. Trump's first reaction was a post asking 'What's with Russia violating Poland's airspace with drones? Here we go!' Asked the next day, he said it 'could have been a mistake,' though when pressed he added he would 'condemn even for being near that line.' Prime Minister Donald Tusk replied: 'We would also wish that the drone attack on Poland was a mistake. But it wasn't. And we know it.' Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski and Deputy Defense Minister Cezary Tomczyk also rejected the suggestion, calling it 'a deliberate Russian attack.'
“President Zelenskyy of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight. Remember how it started. No getting back Obama given Crimea (12 years ago, without a shot being fired!), and NO GOING INTO NATO BY UKRAINE. Some things never change!!!”
· Truth Social
The day before Zelensky and seven European leaders came to the White House, he posted that there would be 'no getting back' Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, and 'NO GOING INTO NATO BY UKRAINE.' Recognition of Crimea and a bar on Ukrainian NATO membership were among the conditions Putin had set for ending the war; NATO members had agreed in 2024 that Ukraine was on an 'irreversible path' to membership. The BBC noted his claim that Crimea was taken 'without a shot being fired' was untrue: at least two Ukrainian soldiers were killed by Russian forces there in 2014. Zelensky replied that Crimea 'should not have been given up then' and that earlier concessions had served Putin as 'a springboard for a new attack.' At the August 18 meeting he said the United States would help European countries provide security guarantees but did not commit to NATO membership.
“It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up.”
· Truth Social
Before the summit he had demanded that Russia accept a ceasefire and warned of 'very severe consequences' if Putin did not agree to stop the war. The morning after meeting Putin, who had rejected a ceasefire before a comprehensive deal, he posted that 'it was determined by all' that the war should go directly to a peace agreement rather than a ceasefire. European leaders indicated that was not their view, and Zelensky said skipping a ceasefire 'complicates the situation.' The Guardian reported that Putin had demanded Ukraine withdraw from the Donbas in exchange for a freeze elsewhere, and that Trump told European leaders on a post-summit call that he believed a deal could be reached if Zelensky gave up the region. On August 18 at the White House he told reporters, 'I don't think you need a cease-fire,' and said the six other wars he claimed to have settled were done without one. No new sanctions followed the missed deadline until October 22, 2025, when the Treasury sanctioned Rosneft and Lukoil.
“I've always had a fantastic relationship with President Putin, with Vladimir. We had many, many tough meetings, good meetings.”
· Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Anchorage, Alaska
He greeted Putin on a red carpet laid on the runway at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, applauded as he approached, and Putin rode with him to the talks in the presidential limousine. It was Putin's first visit to the United States since 2015 and his first meeting with a U.S. president since the 2022 invasion; Putin faces an International Criminal Court arrest warrant, which the United States does not recognize. After about three hours the two gave statements without taking questions. Trump said 'there's no deal until there's a deal,' did not mention Ukraine's requested ceasefire or the 'severe consequences' he had threatened days earlier, and said of Putin's suggestion of a next meeting in Moscow, 'I could see it possibly happening.' Putin repeated that the war's 'root causes' had to be addressed. In a Fox News interview afterward he said it was 'really up to President Zelenskyy' to 'make the deal.'
“But we're going to get some back. We're going to get some switched. There'll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both.”
· White House, remarks with the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan; Truth Social
August 8, 2025 was the day the shortened deadline he had set for Putin to agree to a ceasefire ran out. Instead of the new sanctions he had threatened, he announced that he would meet Putin in Alaska on August 15 and, asked whether Zelensky would have to give up territory, said there would be 'some swapping of territories to the betterment of both.' Ukraine and its European allies had long rejected ceding occupied land, while Putin had insisted any deal require Ukraine to relinquish territory seized since 2014. On August 11 he added that Zelensky 'needs approval to do a land swap' and that 'there will be some land swapping going on.' Two days earlier, on August 6, he had imposed an additional 25 percent tariff on India over its purchases of Russian oil, the only new economic penalty tied to the deadline.
“We haven't. We're giving weapons, but we've given so many weapons. But we are giving weapons, and we're working with them and trying to help them. But we haven't.”
· Joint Base Andrews, Maryland
On July 1, 2025, a senior White House official told CNN the administration was pausing some weapons shipments to Ukraine, including air defense missiles, after a Pentagon review that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signed off on. NBC News reported that the delayed shipment included dozens of Patriot interceptors and had been approved under the Biden administration, and that sources said it was the third time Hegseth had stopped aid shipments on his own. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov welcomed the decision. Asked on July 3 why he had paused the shipments, Trump gave the answer quoted above; the same day he said of a call with Putin, "I didn't make any progress with him today at all." On July 7 he said, "We're going to have to send more weapons." Asked on July 8 who ordered the pause, he said, "I don't know. Why don't you tell me?" On July 14 he announced that NATO countries would buy U.S. weapons, including Patriot systems, for Ukraine.
“And don't forget, you know, sanctions cost us a lot of money. When I sanction a country, that costs the U.S. a lot of money, a tremendous amount of money.”
· G7 summit, Kananaskis, Canada
At the G7 summit on June 16, 2025, a reporter asked Trump why he was waiting to sanction Russia. He said, "Because I'm waiting to see whether or not a deal is done," and said of European plans for more sanctions, "Let's see them do it first." Earlier that day he opened a meeting with Canada's prime minister by saying that removing Russia from the G8 was "a mistake." Trump left the summit early on June 16, before Zelensky arrived, and the summit ended the next day with no joint statement in support of Ukraine, the Kyiv Independent reported. Canada announced new sanctions on Russia and a $2 billion military aid package for Ukraine. On July 14 Trump threatened "secondary tariffs" of about 100% if there was no deal within 50 days and announced that NATO countries would buy U.S. weapons for Ukraine.
“Sometimes you're better off letting them fight for a while and then pulling them apart. And I gave that analogy to Putin yesterday.”
· Oval Office meeting with Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany
Trump spoke to Putin on June 4, 2025, days after Operation Spider's Web, a Ukrainian drone attack on Russian air bases that Zelensky said damaged or destroyed 41 aircraft. Trump wrote afterward that it was "not a conversation that will lead to immediate Peace" and relayed that Putin "did say, and very strongly, that he will have to respond to the recent attack on the airfields." The next day, asked whether he would put more sanctions on Russia and whether he had a deadline, he compared the two countries to children fighting in a park and said the deadline was "in my brain." He said sanctions "could be on both countries." NPR reported that he said he had not looked at a bipartisan Senate bill to impose sanctions on Moscow. Merz told him the United States was in a strong position to help end the war.
“Well, because I think there's a chance of getting something done, and then if you do that, you can also make it much worse. But there could be a time where that's going to happen.”
· Exchange with reporters at the White House
Trump gave the answer on May 19, 2025, when asked why he had not increased sanctions on Russia. After his call with Putin that day, he wrote that Russia and Ukraine would "immediately start negotiations toward a cease-fire" and that the conditions "will be negotiated between the two parties." He also wrote that Russia wanted "largescale trade with the United States" once the war was over, "and I agree." Putin said Russia was ready to work on a "memorandum" on a future peace accord and that the "root causes" of the crisis had to be addressed. Ukraine had accepted the U.S. proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in March. Trump told reporters that if there was no progress, "I'd just back away." The European Union and the United Kingdom announced new sanctions on Russia the next day. The U.S. Treasury sanctioned Rosneft and Lukoil in October 2025.
“President Putin of Russia doesn't want to have a Cease Fire Agreement with Ukraine, but rather wants to meet on Thursday, in Turkey, to negotiate a possible end to the BLOODBATH. Ukraine should agree to this, IMMEDIATELY.”
· Truth Social
On May 10, 2025, European leaders visiting Kyiv demanded that Russia agree to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire starting May 12 and said sanctions would be increased if Putin refused; Ukrainska Pravda reported that the leaders had spoken with Trump by phone before the announcement. Putin did not respond to the ceasefire proposal and instead offered direct talks in Istanbul. Trump posted the statement quoted above the next day. European governments maintained that a truce had to be in place before talks, and Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov called ultimatums to Russia "unacceptable." The talks on May 16 lasted about 90 minutes and produced an agreement to exchange 1,000 prisoners from each side but no ceasefire. The Russian delegation was led by presidential adviser Vladimir Medinsky.
“Stopping the war. Stopping taking the whole country. Pretty big concession.”
· Oval Office meeting with Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre of Norway
On April 24, 2025, a reporter asked Trump what concessions Russia had offered to get closer to peace, and he gave the answer quoted above. Hours earlier a Russian missile and drone attack had killed 12 people in Kyiv, and Trump had written on Truth Social, "Vladimir, STOP!" In the same Oval Office session, a reporter noted that Ukraine had agreed to the U.S. proposal for a 30-day ceasefire two months earlier and Russia had not. Trump said getting Crimea back for Ukraine was "going to be a very difficult thing to do." He also said, "we're putting a lot of pressure" on Russia. On April 26 he wrote that Putin might be "just tapping me along" and raised the possibility of "Banking" or "Secondary Sanctions."
“This statement is very harmful to the Peace Negotiations with Russia in that Crimea was lost years ago under the auspices of President Barack Hussein Obama, and is not even a point of discussion.”
· Truth Social
Trump posted on April 23, 2025, after Zelensky said, "Ukraine will not legally recognize the occupation of Crimea," adding that doing so was against Ukraine's constitution. CNN reported that the U.S. proposal under discussion included recognizing Russia's control of Crimea. In the post Trump wrote that "Nobody is asking Zelenskyy to recognize Crimea as Russian Territory" and that Zelensky "can have Peace or, he can fight for another three years before losing the whole Country." The same day Vice President JD Vance said it was time for Russia and Ukraine "to either say yes or for the US to walk away from this process." Secretary of State Marco Rubio withdrew from talks with Ukrainian and European officials in London, which were downgraded. After Russian strikes on Kyiv, Trump wrote the next day, "Vladimir, STOP!"
“Crimea will stay with Russia. And Zelensky understands that, and everybody understands that it's been with them for a long time.”
· Interview with TIME at the White House
Trump gave the interview on April 22, 2025, and TIME published the transcript on April 25. Asked whether Ukraine should give up hope of joining NATO, he said, "I don't think they'll ever be able to join NATO," and said talk of membership was "what caused the war to start." Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. A U.S. peace proposal under discussion that week included recognizing Russia's control of Crimea, CNN reported, and Zelensky said, "Ukraine will not legally recognize the occupation of Crimea." Zelensky also shared the 2018 Crimea Declaration issued by Trump's first-term secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, which rejected Russia's occupation of the peninsula. Asked on April 24 why the administration had changed its stance, Trump said, "This is Biden's war."
“Oh, I think it was terrible, and I was told they made a mistake. But I think it's a horrible thing.”
· Aboard Air Force One
A Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian city of Sumy on Palm Sunday, April 13, 2025, killed 34 people, Deutsche Welle reported. Asked that evening whether he meant the strike was unintentional, Trump said, "They made a mistake," told reporters to ask Russia, and added, "This is Biden's war." Friedrich Merz, then Germany's incoming chancellor, called the attack "a deliberate and calculated war crime." In the Oval Office the next day Trump said, "The mistake was letting the war happen," and said of Zelensky, "You don't start a war against somebody that's 20 times your size and then hope that people give you some missiles." In the same remarks he said "Putin should have never started it" and "Everybody's to blame."
“They will be looking at them, and we're thinking about all of them right now. There are about five or six conditions. We're looking at all of them.”
· Exchange with reporters at the White House
After talks with Russian officials in Riyadh on March 23-25, 2025, the White House said the two countries had agreed to ensure safe navigation in the Black Sea and that the United States "will help restore Russia's access to the world market for agricultural and fertilizer exports, lower maritime insurance costs, and enhance access to ports and payment systems for such transactions." The Kremlin said the halt on the use of force at sea would take effect only after sanctions were lifted on Rosselkhozbank, Russia's state agricultural lender, and other financial institutions, and after they were reconnected to the SWIFT payments system, RFE/RL reported. A reporter asked Trump whether the United States had agreed to those conditions, and he gave the answer quoted above. Zelensky criticized aspects of the U.S.-Russia agreement. RFE/RL reported that reconnection to SWIFT might depend on European Union approval.
“We agreed to an immediate Ceasefire on all Energy and Infrastructure, with an understanding that we will be working quickly to have a Complete Ceasefire and, ultimately, an END to this very horrible War between Russia and Ukraine.”
· Truth Social
On March 11, 2025, Ukraine accepted a U.S. proposal for a 30-day ceasefire covering the entire front line. After Trump and Putin spoke on March 18, the Kremlin said Putin had agreed to halt strikes on energy infrastructure for 30 days, and said he had insisted on an end to foreign military aid and intelligence sharing for Ukraine. Trump told Fox News that aid "was never discussed." The White House readout said negotiations on a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea and a full ceasefire would begin immediately, and described "enormous economic deals" with Russia once peace was achieved. Before the call Trump had said the talks would involve "dividing up certain assets," including land and power plants. Zelensky said Ukraine needed more details and needed to be involved.
“AT THIS VERY MOMENT, THOUSANDS OF UKRAINIAN TROOPS ARE COMPLETELY SURROUNDED BY THE RUSSIAN MILITARY, AND IN A VERY BAD AND VULNERABLE POSITION. I have strongly requested to President Putin that their lives be spared.”
· Truth Social
Trump posted the claim on March 14, 2025, after what he called "very good and productive discussions" with Putin the day before. The General Staff of Ukraine's armed forces said the same day that reports of an encirclement in Russia's Kursk region were "untrue and are being created by the Russians for political purposes and to put pressure on Ukraine and its partners," and that there was "no threat of encirclement of our units." It said Ukrainian units had regrouped and moved to more favorable defensive lines. Putin responded that Ukrainian soldiers in Kursk should surrender and that Ukraine's leadership would need to order them to do so. The Kyiv Independent reported that neither Trump nor Putin provided evidence that Ukrainian troops were surrounded.
“I find that, in terms of getting a final settlement, it may be easier dealing with Russia, which is surprising, because they have all the cards.”
· Oval Office exchange with reporters, the White House
Trump spoke on March 7, 2025, while U.S. military aid and intelligence sharing for Ukraine were paused and after Russia launched missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities. Asked whether he still believed Putin when he said he wanted peace, Trump said, "I believe him," and added, "I'm finding it more difficult, frankly, to deal with Ukraine." Asked whether Putin was taking advantage of the U.S. pause, he said, "No, I actually think he's doing what anybody else would do." Earlier that day he had written on Truth Social that he was "strongly considering large scale Banking Sanctions, Sanctions, and Tariffs on Russia" until a ceasefire was reached. Asked on May 19 why he had not increased sanctions on Russia, he said doing so could "make it much worse." The Treasury Department sanctioned the Russian oil companies Rosneft and Lukoil in October 2025.
“This is the worst statement that could have been made by Zelenskyy, and America will not put up with it for much longer!”
· Truth Social
Trump posted the statement on March 3, 2025, after Zelensky said the end of the war could be "very, very far away." That evening a White House official said Trump had ordered a pause on shipments of U.S. military aid, covering all equipment not yet inside Ukraine, until he determined Zelensky was committed to peace talks. On March 5, national security adviser Mike Waltz and CIA Director John Ratcliffe indicated that intelligence sharing had also been paused. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov welcomed the decision, and a Polish foreign ministry spokesperson said European and NATO allies had not been informed in advance. Asked on March 7 whether Putin was taking advantage of the pause, Trump said, "No, I actually think he's doing what anybody else would do." On March 11, after Ukraine accepted a U.S. proposal for a 30-day ceasefire at talks in Jeddah, the United States said it would immediately lift the pause on intelligence sharing and resume security assistance.
“Let me tell you, Putin went through a hell of a lot with me. He went through a phony witch hunt where they used him and Russia.”
· Oval Office meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine
Zelensky came to the White House on February 28, 2025, expecting to sign an agreement giving the United States access to Ukrainian minerals. In front of cameras, Trump told him, "You don't have the cards right now," and "you're either going to make a deal or we're out." When a reporter asked what would happen if Russia broke a ceasefire, Trump gave the answer quoted above, a reference to the investigation of his 2016 campaign's contacts with Russia, and said of Putin, "He had nothing to do with it." He also said, "I'm not aligned with Putin. I'm not aligned with anybody." A scheduled joint news conference was canceled and Zelensky left without signing. Russian officials welcomed the exchange; Dmitry Medvedev called it "a brutal dressing-down in the Oval Office." On March 3 the White House paused U.S. military aid to Ukraine.
“Yes, possibly. Hey, I know some Russian oligarchs that are very nice people.”
· Oval Office exchange with reporters, the White House
On February 25, 2025, Trump announced a plan to sell "gold card" residency permits for $5 million each and was asked whether a Russian oligarch would be eligible. He added that the oligarchs were "not quite as wealthy as they used to be" and "I think they could afford $5 million." NPR described the answer as seemingly tongue-in-cheek. Minutes earlier, asked about lifting sanctions on Russia, he said, "we haven't lifted any sanctions on anybody" and that the question would be on the table "at some point." On February 5, in a memo issued on her first day in office, Attorney General Pam Bondi disbanded Task Force KleptoCapture, the unit formed in 2022 to enforce sanctions against oligarchs close to Putin, and the FBI's Foreign Influence Task Force. The memo said the department's resources would be redirected toward drug cartels and transnational criminal organizations.
“I would rather not explain it now, but it's sort of self-evident, I think.”
· Oval Office meeting with President Emmanuel Macron of France
On February 24, 2025, the third anniversary of the invasion, the United States voted against a Ukrainian resolution, backed by European countries, in the UN General Assembly that demanded an immediate withdrawal of Russian troops. The resolution passed 93-18 with 65 abstentions. The BBC reported that the U.S. voted the same way as Russia, North Korea and Belarus. A rival U.S. draft mourned the loss of life and called for a swift end to the conflict without mentioning Russian aggression; after European amendments were added, the U.S. abstained on its own text. The Security Council later adopted the original U.S. wording 10-0, with five abstentions, including Britain and France. Asked that day to explain the votes, Trump gave the answer quoted above.
“I don't use those words lightly. I think that we're going to see how it all works out. Let's see what happens.”
· Oval Office meeting with President Emmanuel Macron of France
On February 24, 2025, a reporter in the Oval Office said to Trump, "You called Zelenskyy a dictator. Would you use the same words regarding Putin?" Trump gave the answer quoted above and went on to say there was "a chance of a really good settlement." On February 19 he had written on Truth Social that Zelensky was "A Dictator without Elections." Zelensky was elected in 2019 with 73% of the vote, and Ukraine delayed the elections scheduled for early 2024 because of the war, CBS News reported. The exchange took place on the third anniversary of Russia's invasion, the same day the United States voted against a UN General Assembly resolution demanding a Russian withdrawal.
“So, I don't think he's very important to be at meetings, to be honest with you. He's been there for three years. He makes it very hard to make deals.”
· Fox News Radio, "The Brian Kilmeade Show"
Trump made the remark on February 21, 2025, three days after U.S. and Russian officials met in Saudi Arabia without Ukraine. In the same interview he said of Zelensky, "I've been watching him negotiate with no cards. He has no cards, and you get sick of it." Later that day he told governors at the White House that he had had "very good talks with Putin, and I've had not such good talks with Ukraine." Zelensky had told NBC News the previous week, "I will never accept any decisions between the United States and Russia about Ukraine, never." NBC News reported that the White House and the Ukrainian embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“He refuses to have Elections, is very low in Ukrainian Polls, and the only thing he was good at was playing Biden “like a fiddle.” A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left.”
· Truth Social
Trump posted the statement on February 19, 2025, and repeated it in a speech in Miami that evening. Zelensky was elected in 2019 with 73% of the vote, and Ukraine delayed elections scheduled for early 2024 because of the war, CBS News reported. Earlier that day Zelensky had said Trump was "living in this disinformation space" created by Russia. In the same post Trump wrote that the United States was "successfully negotiating an end to the War with Russia." The BBC reported that Russia's ambassador to the United Kingdom, Andrei Kelin, praised the administration's approach, saying, "They have listened and they hear what we're saying." Asked five days later whether he would use the same word for Putin, Trump said, "I don't use those words lightly."
“But today I heard, "Oh, well, we weren't invited." Well, you've been there for 3 years. You should have ended it 3 years—you should have never started it. You could have made a deal.”
· Mar-a-Lago Club, Palm Beach, Florida
On February 18, 2025, delegations led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Ukraine's leaders were not invited, and President Volodymyr Zelensky had said his country would not accept the outcome of negotiations held without it. The two sides agreed to re-staff their embassies and to appoint high-level teams to work on ending the war, which began with Russia's full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022. Speaking at Mar-a-Lago that afternoon, Trump said he was "much more confident" of a deal, said Zelensky was "down at 4 percent approval rating" and called for an election in Ukraine, adding, "That's not a Russia thing." CBS News reported that a recent poll showed 57% of Ukrainians trusted Zelensky. On April 14, 2025, Trump said "Putin should have never started it" and "Everybody's to blame."
“I'd love to have them back. I think it was a mistake to throw them out. Look, it's not a question of liking Russia or not liking Russia.”
· Oval Office exchange with reporters, the White House
A day after his February 12, 2025 call with Putin, a reporter asked Trump whether he wanted to add Russia back to the G7. He said he would, adding, "I think Putin would love to be back." The Group of Eight expelled Russia in 2014 after it invaded parts of eastern Ukraine and annexed Crimea. Trump said "Obama and a couple of other people made a mistake" and that it was "very possible that if that was the G-8, you wouldn't have had the problem with Ukraine." He repeated the point at the G7 summit in Kananaskis, Canada, on June 16, 2025, calling the expulsion "a big mistake" while saying of readmission, "I'm not saying he should at this point, because too much water has gone over the dam."
“I don't think it's practical to have it, personally. I know that our new Secretary of Defense, who is excellent, Pete, made a statement today saying that he thinks it's unlikely or impractical. I think probably that's true.”
· Oval Office exchange with reporters, the White House
On February 12, 2025, Trump announced a "lengthy and highly productive" phone call with Putin and said the two had agreed to have their teams start negotiations immediately. The same day Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told a meeting of Ukraine's allies that Kyiv should not expect to get all its territory back and would not be allowed to join NATO. Asked in the Oval Office whether Ukraine could return to its pre-2014 borders, Trump said that "certainly would seem to be unlikely." When a reporter said both points were demands Russia had made in the past, he answered, "I'm just here to try and get peace." Germany's defense minister, Boris Pistorius, said the United States should not have made concessions to Russia before negotiations began. Trump repeated the position at a Cabinet meeting on February 26, saying, "NATO, you can forget about."
“So, you know, a big part of the problem was Russia for many, many years, long before Putin, said, you could never have NATO involved with Ukraine. Now they've said that -- that's been like written in stone. And somewhere along the line Biden said no, they should be able to join NATO. Well, then Russia has somebody right on their doorstep and I could understand their feeling about that.”
· News conference at Mar-a-Lago, Palm Beach, Florida
Asked at a January 7, 2025 news conference whether he would commit to a security guarantee for Ukraine under a ceasefire, Trump said Russia had insisted 'for many, many years' that Ukraine could never be in NATO, that Biden had said it should be able to join, and that he could 'understand their feeling about that.' He said he believed 'they had a deal and then Biden broke it.' Asked earlier whether he would keep supporting Ukraine during negotiations to preserve leverage, he said, 'I wouldn't tell you if that were the case.' Al Jazeera noted that NATO members have officially supported Ukraine's eventual membership since the 2008 Bucharest summit and that the Biden administration continued to support it.
“I disagree very vehemently with sending missiles hundreds of miles into Russia. Why are we doing that? We're just escalating this war and making it worse. That should not have been allowed to be done.”
· TIME Person of the Year interview, conducted at Mar-a-Lago November 25, published December 12, 2024
In November 2024 President Biden lifted the ban on Ukraine using U.S.-supplied longer-range missiles for strikes deep inside Russia. In his TIME interview, published December 12, Trump said he disagreed 'very vehemently' with the decision and that it 'should not have been allowed to be done.' Asked whether he would abandon Ukraine, he said 'the only way you're going to reach an agreement is not to abandon.' The next day Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Trump's criticism of the Ukrainian strikes 'impresses us,' as Russia launched a large missile and drone attack on Ukraine's energy infrastructure. The Guardian wrote that 'the alignment on the strikes between Trump and the Kremlin will cause alarm in Ukraine.'
· NBC's Meet the Press, interview with Kristen Welker
Kristen Welker asked Trump whether Ukraine should prepare for less aid from the United States after he took office. He answered 'Possibly,' then 'Yeah. Probably. Sure,' and said Europe should 'equalize' because 'war with Russia is more important for Europe than it is for us. ... We have a little thing called an ocean in between us.' He said he was 'actively' trying to end the war before his inauguration. The interview came a day after he met Zelensky and French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris. In the same interview he declined to say whether he had spoken with Putin since the election.
“I think Zelenskyy is one of the greatest salesman I've ever seen. Every time he comes in, we give him $100 billion. Who else got that kind of money in history? There's never been. And that doesn't mean I don't want to help him because I feel very badly for those people, but he should never have let that war start. That war is loser.”
· The PBD Podcast with Patrick Bet-David (recorded October 16, released October 17, 2024)
Three weeks before the election, Trump told Patrick Bet-David that Zelensky 'should never have let that war start,' that 'Ukraine, remember, is not Ukraine anymore' and that 'this should have been settled before it started.' He said he 'largely' blamed Biden for instigating the war and added, 'there's no angel in Putin.' USA Today reported that he had told a North Carolina rally earlier in the month that the United States kept giving 'billions of dollars to a man who refuses to make a deal.' Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022; Zelensky, at his September 27 meeting with Trump, had said 'Putin can't win, and Ukraine has to prevail.' The Biden administration announced a further $425 million aid package for Ukraine on October 16.
“Well, I don't comment on that, but I will tell you that if I did, it's a smart thing. If I'm friendly with people, if I can have a relationship with people, that's a good thing, not a bad thing in terms of a country. He's got 2,000 nuclear weapons, and so do we.”
· Interview with Bloomberg's John Micklethwait at the Economic Club of Chicago
Bob Woodward's book 'War,' published October 15, 2024, reported that an unnamed Trump aide said Trump and Putin had spoken 'as many as seven' times since Trump left office, including a call in early 2024 while Trump was urging Republicans to block Ukraine aid, and that Trump had secretly sent Putin COVID-19 test machines in 2020. Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung said 'none of these made up stories by Bob Woodward are true.' Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the claim about the calls was 'not true' but confirmed that 'testers came from America' in 2020. CBS News noted that Woodward wrote he could not verify the calls with Trump, Putin or intelligence sources. Asked on October 15 whether he had talked to Putin since leaving office, Trump said he did not comment on it but 'if I did, it's a smart thing.'
“So, we have a very good relationship, and I also have a very good relationship, as you know, with President Putin.”
· Remarks to reporters with Volodymyr Zelensky at Trump Tower, New York
Before a September 27, 2024 meeting at Trump Tower, Trump told reporters he had 'a very good relationship' with Zelensky and 'also' with Putin, and that if he won 'we're going to get it resolved very quickly.' Zelensky interjected, 'I hope we have more good relations between us'; Trump replied, 'it takes two to tango.' Zelensky said the two shared a 'common view that the war in Ukraine has to be stopped, and Putin can't win, and Ukraine has to prevail.' Two days earlier, at a rally in Mint Hill, North Carolina, Trump had said the United States continued 'to give billions of dollars to a man who refuses to make a deal, Zelenskyy.'
“I want the war to stop. I want to save lives that are being uselessly -- people being killed by the millions. It's the millions. It's so much worse than the numbers that you're getting, which are fake numbers.”
· ABC News presidential debate, National Constitution Center, Philadelphia
Moderator David Muir asked Trump, 'Do you want Ukraine to win this war?' Trump said he wanted the war to stop, that Europe should 'equalize' its contributions, and that 'I know Zelenskyy very well, and I know Putin very well. I have a good relationship, and they respect your president.' Asked again, 'yes or no,' whether it was in the U.S. interest for Ukraine to win, he answered: 'I think it's the U.S. best interest to get this war finished and just get it done.' Harris responded that Trump 'would just give it up.' He had given the same non-answer at the May 2023 CNN town hall.
“I'd like to congratulate Vladimir Putin for having made yet another great deal.”
· Campaign rally with J.D. Vance, Atlanta, Georgia
On August 1, 2024, a 26-person exchange negotiated by the Biden administration with Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway and Turkey freed 16 people held in Russia, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and Vladimir Kara-Murza. Two days later Trump told an Atlanta rally he would 'like to congratulate Vladimir Putin for having made yet another great deal,' said Russia had 'released some of the greatest killers anywhere in the world' and asked whether the swap 'set a bad precedent.' On May 23, 2024, he had posted that Putin 'will do that for me, but not for anyone else' regarding Gershkovich's release and that the United States 'WILL BE PAYING NOTHING'; Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said then that 'there aren't any contacts with Donald Trump' on the matter.
“So, for 20 years, I heard that NATO -- if Ukraine goes into NATO, it's a real problem for Russia. I've heard that for a long time. And I think that's really why this war started. I'm not sure that this war would have started. Biden was saying all of the wrong things. And one of the wrong things he was saying, "No, Ukraine will go into NATO."”
· The All-In Podcast, interview with David Sacks, Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis and David Friedberg
Asked by David Sacks whether he would take NATO expansion 'off the table' to get a peace deal, Trump said the prospect of Ukraine joining NATO was 'really why this war started' and that Biden 'was saying all of the wrong things.' Moscow has long opposed NATO enlargement; NATO members have formally supported Ukraine's eventual membership since the 2008 Bucharest summit. Trump also said he had assumed Putin's troop build-up in 2021 was 'for negotiation purposes' and called Putin 'a good negotiator.' He made the same argument at his January 7, 2025 news conference, saying he could 'understand' Russia's feeling about NATO on its doorstep.
“The sudden death of Alexei Navalny has made me more and more aware of what is happening in our Country. It is a slow, steady progression, with CROOKED, Radical Left Politicians, Prosecutors, and Judges leading us down a path to destruction. Open Borders, Rigged Elections, and Grossly Unfair Courtroom Decisions are DESTROYING AMERICA. WE ARE A NATION IN DECLINE, A FAILING NATION! MAGA2024”
· Truth Social post
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny died in a Russian prison in February 2024. President Biden said 'what has happened to Navalny is yet more proof of Putin's brutality.' CNN reported that Trump's campaign, asked for a response in the hours after the news broke, pointed to a Truth Social post that did not mention Navalny or Putin; that Trump spoke for about 90 minutes at a Michigan rally that weekend without mentioning Navalny; and that his first mention was sharing an editorial headlined 'Biden:Trump::Putin:Navalny' on February 18. His February 19 post used the death to describe prosecutors and judges in his own cases. At a Fox News town hall with Laura Ingraham broadcast February 20 he called the $355 million New York fraud judgment against him 'a form of Navalny' and, despite prompts from Ingraham, did not mention Putin when asked about Navalny, saying Navalny 'was a very brave guy because he went back.' Rival Nikki Haley said Trump 'needs to answer' whether Putin killed Navalny.
“One of the presidents of a big country stood up, said, "Well, sir, if we don't pay and we're attacked by Russia, will you protect us?" I said, "You didn't pay. You're delinquent?" He said, "Yes, let's say that happened." "No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want.”
· Campaign rally, Conway, South Carolina
Recounting a conversation with an unnamed NATO leader, Trump told the Conway rally that he would not protect an ally that was 'delinquent' and would 'encourage' Russia to do 'whatever the hell they want.' NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the next day that 'any suggestion that allies will not defend each other undermines all of our security, including that of the U.S., and puts American and European soldiers at increased risk.' President Biden called the remarks 'appalling and dangerous' and said Trump intended 'to give Putin a green light for more war and violence.' NATO members do not owe dues; the 2 percent of GDP guideline refers to each country's own defense spending. Trump senior adviser Jason Miller said Trump would more effectively force allies to spend more. Trump posted on February 12 that 'I MADE NATO STRONG' and that allies 'are at it again.'
“FROM THIS POINT FORWARD, ARE YOU LISTENING U.S. SENATE(?), NO MONEY IN THE FORM OF FOREIGN AID SHOULD BE GIVEN TO ANY COUNTRY UNLESS IT IS DONE AS A LOAN, NOT JUST A GIVEAWAY.”
· Truth Social post
The day before the Senate began voting on a $95.3 billion foreign aid package with about $60 billion for Ukraine, Trump posted that foreign aid should only be given as a loan, 'contingent' on the recipient never turning against the United States. The Senate passed the bill 70-29 on February 13, 2024, over what Defense News described as 'Trump-fueled opposition'; Speaker Mike Johnson said the House would 'work its own will' and did not take it up for more than two months. On April 20 the House passed a version that designated about $10 billion of the Ukraine funding as a repayable loan 'to appease some Republican members,' as The Guardian put it; PBS reported that more than $9 billion of Ukraine's economic assistance took the form of 'forgivable loans.' Biden signed the package on April 24, 2024, 'overcoming months of opposition by Republicans in Congress,' according to NPR.
“But even Vladimir Putin, has anybody ever heard of Vladimir Putin of Russia, says that Biden's, and this is a quote, 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.”
· Campaign rally, Durham, New Hampshire
At a December 16, 2023 rally, Trump called Biden 'a threat to democracy' and quoted Putin's September 2023 remarks that the criminal cases against Trump exposed 'the rottenness of the American political system.' Trump faced 91 felony charges in four cases at the time and had pleaded not guilty to all of them; prosecutors rejected his claim that the cases were politically motivated. At the same rally he praised Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán and said immigrants were 'poisoning the blood of our country.' The Biden campaign said Trump 'parroted Adolf Hitler, praised Kim Jong Un, and quoted Vladimir Putin.'
“You know, that's something that could have been negotiated. Because there were certain parts, Crimea and other parts of the country, that a lot of people expected could happen. You could have made a deal. So they could have made a deal where there's lesser territory right now than Russia's already taken, to be honest.”
· NBC's Meet the Press, interview with Kristen Welker at Bedminster, New Jersey
In an interview taped at Bedminster, New Jersey and aired September 17, 2023, Kristen Welker's first show as Meet the Press moderator, Trump was asked whether ending the war in 24 hours would mean Putin keeps territory he had 'unlawfully claimed.' He said he would 'make a fair deal for everybody,' then said a deal ceding Crimea and 'other parts of the country' could have been negotiated before the invasion. Welker also read Putin's remark that week that 'we cannot help but feel happy' about Trump's promise to resolve the war within days; Trump replied, 'Well, I like that he said that. Because that means what I'm saying is right.' Asked about Russian attacks on maternity wards and the deportation of Ukrainian children, he said 'It's all terrible' and added that 'nobody was tougher on Russia than me.'
“In light of this information, the U.S. Congress should refuse to authorize a single additional payment of our depleted stockpiles ... the weapons stockpiles to Ukraine until the FBI, DOJ and IRS hand over every scrap of evidence they have on the Biden crime family's corrupt business dealings.”
· Campaign rally, Erie, Pennsylvania
At a July 29, 2023 rally in Erie, Trump said Joe Biden was 'compromised' by his family's dealings in Ukraine and called on Congress to refuse further shipments of weapons to Ukraine until the FBI, Justice Department and IRS handed over evidence about the Biden family to congressional investigators. The Washington Post reported that he said Republican lawmakers who did not join the effort should face primary challenges, and noted that the demand echoed the conduct at issue in his 2019 impeachment, when he withheld military aid from Ukraine while pressing its president to announce an investigation of Biden. Congress continued to fund Ukraine assistance; a new $61 billion package was delayed for months in the House but passed in April 2024.
“I don't think in terms of winning and losing. I think in terms of getting it settled, so stop killing all these people”
· CNN Republican presidential town hall, Saint Anselm College, New Hampshire, moderated by Kaitlan Collins
Asked by Kaitlan Collins whether he wanted Ukraine to win the war, Trump said he did not 'think in terms of winning and losing'; asked again whether he wanted Ukraine or Russia to win, he said 'I want everybody to stop dying. They're dying. Russians and Ukrainians, I want them to stop dying.' He said he would have the war 'settled in one day, 24 hours' and that Europe should 'put up more money.' Asked whether Putin, for whom the International Criminal Court had issued an arrest warrant in March 2023, was a war criminal, he said it 'should be discussed later' because 'if you say he's a war criminal, it's going to be a lot tougher to make a deal to get this thing stop.' He called Putin 'a smart guy' who 'made a tremendous mistake.' The United States had provided about $36.9 billion in military aid to Ukraine since February 2022, according to CNN.
“Finally, we have to finish the process we began under my administration of fundamentally reevaluating NATO's purpose and NATO's mission. Our foreign policy establishment keeps trying to pull the world into conflict with a nuclear-armed Russia based on the lie that Russia represents our greatest threat. But the greatest threat to Western civilization today is not Russia.”
· Agenda47 campaign video, 'Preventing World War III'
In a campaign policy video released March 16, 2023, Trump said the 'proxy battle in Ukraine' risked global war, that the objective must be 'a total cessation of hostilities' and that the State Department, defense bureaucracy and intelligence services should be 'completely overhauled and reconstituted.' He pledged to finish 'fundamentally reevaluating NATO's purpose and NATO's mission' and said the greatest threat to Western civilization was 'ourselves' rather than Russia. The video was released three weeks after the first anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion. He returned to the NATO theme at a February 10, 2024 rally in South Carolina, saying he would 'encourage' Russia to do 'whatever the hell they want' to allies that did not meet spending targets.
“At worst, I could've made a deal to take over something, there are certain areas that are Russian-speaking areas, frankly, but you could've worked a deal.”
· Radio interview with Sean Hannity
In a Monday, March 6, 2023 radio interview with Sean Hannity, Trump said Russia 'took over nothing' while he was in office, that Putin 'would have never done it' had he remained president, and that even 'without even negotiating a deal' he could have averted the invasion; 'at worst,' he said, he could have made a deal for Russia to 'take over' Russian-speaking areas. The Daily Beast reported, and Salon and Mother Jones noted, that the excerpt Hannity aired on his Fox News program that evening cut away before the 'take over' remark. Mother Jones noted that the deal he described resembled the 2016 'peace plan' for an autonomous republic in eastern Ukraine that Konstantin Kilimnik, described by the Senate Intelligence Committee as a Russian intelligence officer, pressed on Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
“Remember in Helsinki when a 3rd rate reporter asked me, essentially, who I trusted more, President Putin of Russia, or our "Intelligence" lowlifes. My instinct at the time was that we had really bad people in the form of James Comey, McCabe (whose wife was being helped out by Crooked Hillary while Crooked was under investigation!), Brennan, Peter Strzok (whose wife is at the SEC) & his lover, Lisa Page. Now add McGonigal & other slime to the list. Who would you choose, Putin or these Misfits?”
· Truth Social post
On January 23, 2023, the Justice Department unsealed an indictment charging Charles McGonigal, who had led the FBI's counterintelligence division in New York from 2016 to 2018, with working for sanctioned Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska in violation of U.S. sanctions. On January 30 Trump reposted a message about the case and returned to the July 2018 Helsinki news conference, at which he had said he did not 'see any reason' why Russia would have interfered in the 2016 election despite the U.S. intelligence assessment that it had. He listed former FBI and CIA officials by name, added McGonigal to the list and asked readers whether they would choose Putin or 'these Misfits.' Newsweek and The Independent reported the post as Trump again suggesting he trusted Putin over U.S. intelligence.
“FIRST COME THE TANKS, THEN COME THE NUKES. Get this crazy war ended, NOW. So easy to do!”
· Truth Social post
On January 25, 2023, President Biden announced the United States would send 31 M1A1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced Germany would send 14 Leopard 2 A6 tanks and allow other countries to re-export theirs. Russia's ambassador to Germany called the Leopard decision 'extremely dangerous.' The next morning Trump posted that tanks would be followed by 'nukes' and demanded the war be ended 'NOW.' He repeated the line in a campaign video on February 1, 2023: 'First comes the tanks, and then come the nukes. Get this crazy war ended now.' The tank deliveries went ahead.
“She gave them $3.5 million. So, now I would think Putin would know the answer to that. I think he should release it. I think we should know that answer.”
· Interview with John Solomon for Just the News on Real America's Voice, taped at Mar-a-Lago
In an interview taped at Mar-a-Lago on March 28, 2022, and aired March 29, Trump cited a 2020 Senate report that Yelena Baturina, wife of Moscow's then-mayor, had paid $3.5 million to a firm co-founded by Hunter Biden, and said Putin 'should release' whatever he knew about it. Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine was then in its fifth week. CNN reported that it was not clear any such material existed or that the Kremlin had access to it, that no evidence had emerged that the Bidens engaged in corruption or influenced U.S. policy for personal gain, and that Hunter Biden, then under a Justice Department investigation into his business dealings, had denied wrongdoing. The request echoed Trump's July 2016 'Russia, if you're listening' appeal for Hillary Clinton's emails.
“'Oh, Trump said Putin's smart.' I mean, he's taken over a country for $2 worth of sanctions. I'd say that's pretty smart.”
· Fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago, Palm Beach, Florida
Speaking at a Mar-a-Lago fundraiser on the evening of February 23, 2022, Trump repeated his praise of Putin from the previous day, saying Putin was 'taking over a country, really a vast, vast location, a great piece of land with a lot of people and just walking right in,' and that he knew Putin 'very well' and 'almost as well as anybody in this room.' Video of the remarks was circulated by the Democratic group American Bridge. Russia's full-scale assault on Ukraine began about 5 a.m. Kyiv time on February 24, roughly 10 p.m. in Palm Beach. At CPAC in Orlando on February 26 Trump called the attack 'appalling' and 'an outrage and an atrocity that should never have been allowed to occur,' while defending the earlier remarks: 'The problem is not that Putin is smart, which of course he's smart, but the real problem is that our leaders are dumb.'
“I went in yesterday and there was a television screen, and I said, "This is genius." Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine -- of Ukraine. Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that's wonderful. So, Putin is now saying, "It's independent," a large section of Ukraine. I said, "How smart is that?" And he's gonna go in and be a peacekeeper.”
· The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, syndicated radio, by phone from Palm Beach, Florida
On February 21, 2022, Putin recognized the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk republics in eastern Ukraine and ordered Russian troops into them as 'peacekeepers.' The next day Trump told the radio hosts the move was 'genius,' called Putin 'a guy who's very savvy' and said 'I know him very well. Very, very well.' He added that it 'never would have happened' had he been in office. The same day Biden called Russia's moves 'the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine' and announced sanctions on two Russian banks, Russian sovereign debt and members of the Russian elite. White House press secretary Jen Psaki responded: 'As a matter of policy, we try not to take advice from anyone who praises President Putin and his military strategy.' Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
“As to who do I trust, they asked, Russia or our "Intelligence" from the Obama era, meaning people like Comey, McCabe, the two lovers, Brennan, Clapper, and numerous other sleezebags, or Russia, the answer, after all that has been found out and written, should be obvious. Our government has rarely had such lowlifes as these working for it. Good luck to Biden in dealing with President Putin—don't fall asleep during the meeting, and please give him my warmest regards!”
· Written statement issued through his Save America political operation
On June 10, 2021, six days before President Biden's June 16 summit with Vladimir Putin in Geneva, Trump issued a statement praising his own 2018 Helsinki summit as 'a great and very productive meeting' and saying the United States 'won much, including the respect of President Putin and Russia.' He revisited the Helsinki question of whether he trusted Russia or U.S. intelligence agencies on 2016 election interference, called the Obama-era officials 'lowlifes' and said the answer 'should be obvious.' The Guardian reported that Trump 'repeated that he had more faith in Putin than in US intelligence.' Biden went into the Geneva meeting saying the United States would 'respond in a robust and meaningful way' if Russia engaged in harmful activities.
“The Cyber Hack is far greater in the Fake News Media than in actuality. I have been fully briefed and everything is well under control. Russia, Russia, Russia is the priority chant when anything happens because Lamestream is, for mostly financial reasons, petrified of.... ....discussing the possibility that it may be China (it may!).”
· Twitter
SolarWinds said nearly 18,000 customers had received a software update tainted with malicious code, and the breach reportedly reached the State, Treasury, Homeland Security and Defense departments. On December 18, 2020 Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, "we can say pretty clearly that it was the Russians that engaged in this activity." The next day, in his first public comments on the breach, Trump said it was under control and suggested China might be responsible. Attorney General William Barr said on December 21 that the hack "certainly appears to be" the work of Russia. Russia denied involvement.
“But Chris, you don't see any activity from China, even though it is a FAR greater threat than Russia, Russia, Russia. They will both, plus others, be able to interfere in our 2020 Election with our totally vulnerable Unsolicited (Counterfeit?) Ballot Scam. Check it out!”
· Twitter
FBI Director Christopher Wray told the House Homeland Security Committee on September 17, 2020 that Russia was making "very active efforts" to interfere in the election, primarily by working to damage Joe Biden through social media, proxies and state media. Politico reported that his account affirmed the findings the Office of the Director of National Intelligence had published the previous month. Trump responded on Twitter that evening. Bloomberg reported that Wray had in fact testified that China was among the adversaries trying to interfere in the campaign. Wray also said the FBI had not seen Russia trying to break into election infrastructure as it did in 2016.
“So I don't know exactly what happened. I think it's tragic. It's terrible. It shouldn't happen. We haven't had any proof yet, but I will take a look.”
· News conference, White House
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny fell ill on a flight in Siberia in August 2020 and was evacuated to Germany, which said he had been poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent. On September 4 NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said there was "proof beyond doubt," and the State Department said Deputy Secretary Stephen Biegun had told Russia's ambassador that use of the chemical weapon would violate the Chemical Weapons Convention. Trump said the same day that the United States had not seen proof and that reporters should be asking about China more than Russia; asked whether he doubted Germany's findings, he said he did not. On September 21, asked who he thought poisoned Navalny, he said, "We'll talk about that at another time." The European Union sanctioned six senior Russian officials over the poisoning on October 15, 2020.
“I think that the last person Russia wants to see in office is Donald Trump because nobody has been tougher on Russia than I have, ever.”
· News conference, Bedminster, New Jersey
On August 7, 2020 William Evanina, director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, said in a public statement that Russia was "using a range of measures to primarily denigrate former Vice President Biden" and that some Kremlin-linked actors were seeking to boost Trump's candidacy, while China preferred that Trump not win reelection. Asked that day whether he believed the intelligence, Trump said "It could be" and then said Russia did not want him in office. Told that this was not what the intelligence showed, he said, "Well, I don't care what anybody says." On September 10 the Treasury Department sanctioned Andriy Derkach, a Ukrainian lawmaker it described as an active Russian agent, for attempting to influence the election. On September 15 Trump said on Fox & Friends that Russia "probably" wanted Biden to win.
“So we're reducing the force because they're not paying their bill. It's very simple: They're delinquent.”
· South Lawn, White House, remarks to reporters
Trump announced in June 2020 that he would cut U.S. forces in Germany. On July 29 Defense Secretary Mark Esper said almost 12,000 troops, roughly a third of the force, would leave, with nearly 5,600 moving to other NATO countries and about 6,400 returning to the United States. Esper said the plan would enhance deterrence of Russia, while Trump told reporters the same day that the reduction was because Germany had not met NATO's spending target of 2 percent of GDP. Some Republicans in Congress said the withdrawal would be a gift to Russia, RFE/RL reported. Trump had signed sanctions on companies building Russia's Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Germany in December 2019. President Biden said on February 4, 2021 that he was stopping any planned troop withdrawals from Germany.
“I have never discussed it with him. No. I would. I'd have no problem with it.”
· Interview with Jonathan Swan, Axios on HBO
Trump spoke with Putin by phone on July 23, 2020. In an interview recorded on July 28 for Axios on HBO, he said he had not raised the reported bounties on that call, which he said was about other subjects including nuclear proliferation, and that he had never discussed them with Putin. He said the matter was "an issue that many people said was fake news." The next day he told reporters he would be "very angry" if the intelligence were true. In April 2021 the Biden administration said the intelligence community had only "low to moderate confidence" in the bounty reports.
“The Russia Bounty story is just another made up by Fake News tale that is told only to damage me and the Republican Party. The secret source probably does not even exist, just like the story itself. If the discredited @nytimes has a source, reveal it. Just another HOAX!”
· Twitter
News organizations reported in June 2020 that U.S. intelligence assessments said a Russian military intelligence unit had offered cash to Taliban-linked militants for attacks on coalition forces in Afghanistan, and that officials had been weighing a response since at least March. Trump tweeted on June 28 that nobody had briefed him, Vice President Mike Pence or chief of staff Mark Meadows, and on July 1 called the story a hoax. National security adviser Robert O'Brien said the president's CIA briefer had not briefed him verbally because the intelligence was unverified. In April 2021 the Biden administration said the intelligence community had only "low to moderate confidence" in the reports, in part because they relied on detainee interrogations, and it did not sanction Russia over them.
“I'm postponing it because I don't feel that as a G7 it properly represents what's going on in the world.”
· Remarks to reporters aboard Air Force One
On May 30, 2020 Trump postponed the G7 summit he was due to host and said he planned to invite Russia, Australia, South Korea and India, calling the G7 a "very outdated group of countries." Russia was expelled from the group in 2014 after annexing Crimea and still holds the territory. The Kremlin said on June 1 that Trump had told Putin of the idea by phone. A spokesperson for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Britain would not support readmitting Russia as a member, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Russia "will continue to remain out." The House had passed a bipartisan resolution in December 2019 supporting Russia's exclusion. On August 10 Trump said he "certainly would invite" Putin to a summit held after the election.
“Another misinformation campaign is being launched by Democrats in Congress saying that Russia prefers me to any of the Do Nothing Democrat candidates who still have been unable to, after two weeks, count their votes in Iowa. Hoax number 7!”
· Twitter
On February 13, 2020 Shelby Pierson, the intelligence community's election threats executive, briefed the House Intelligence Committee, and news reports said the briefing included a finding that Russia had a preference for Trump. CNN reported, citing a White House official, that Trump became irate at acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire over the briefing; Richard Grenell, the ambassador to Germany, was named that week to replace Maguire. On February 24 a senior official in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence disputed some accounts of the briefing. Sources told CBS News that Pierson had not said Russia was actively aiding Trump's reelection, and that the assessment she delivered indicated the Russian government had established a preference for him.
“They gave the server to Crowd Strike or whatever it's called, which is a company owned by a very wealthy Ukrainian. And I still want to see that server.”
· Phone interview, Fox & Friends, Fox News
On November 21, 2019 Fiona Hill, a former Russia adviser on the National Security Council, testified in the House impeachment inquiry that the idea that Ukraine rather than Russia interfered in the 2016 election was "a fictional narrative that has been perpetrated and propagated by the Russian security services themselves." Trump repeated the claim on Fox & Friends the next morning. CrowdStrike is a California-based security firm that investigated the 2016 hack of the Democratic National Committee and traced it to two groups connected to a Russian intelligence service, PBS reported, and its co-founder Dmitri Alperovitch is a Russian-born U.S. citizen. Trump had raised CrowdStrike and the server with Ukraine's president on their July 25, 2019 call. PBS reported that the theory had been discredited by intelligence agencies and by Trump's own advisers.
“Syria may have some help with Russia, and that's fine. It's a lot of sand. They've got a lot of sand over there. So there's a lot of sand that they can play with.”
· Oval Office, remarks with President Sergio Mattarella of Italy
After Trump ordered U.S. forces out of northeastern Syria in October 2019, Turkey launched an offensive against Kurdish fighters who had been allied with the United States, and the Kurdish administration struck a deal with the Russia-backed Syrian government. By October 15 U.S. troops had completed their pullout from Manbij, Russia said its forces were patrolling near the town, and video from Russian journalists showed what appeared to be an abandoned U.S. outpost. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft said Washington was "deeply concerned" about the Russian patrols. About 1,000 U.S. troops were being withdrawn from northern Syria. Trump announced sanctions on Turkey on October 14. The House voted 354-60 on October 16 for a resolution opposing the withdrawal.
“President Putin outsmarted President Obama. ... I think it would be better to have Russia inside the tent than outside the tent.”
· News conference with President Emmanuel Macron, G7 summit, Biarritz, France
Russia was suspended from the G8 in 2014 after it annexed Crimea from Ukraine. On August 20, 2019 Trump said in the Oval Office that it was "much more appropriate to have Russia in," and at the G7 summit in Biarritz on August 26 he said his inclination was that Russia should be in and attributed its exclusion to Obama having been outsmarted. European Council President Donald Tusk said on August 24, "Under no condition can we agree with this logic," and Germany, France and Britain rejected the idea that week, RFE/RL reported. A senior administration official told CNN that French President Emmanuel Macron had agreed with Trump by phone that Russia should be invited in 2020. PolitiFact rated Trump's account of the expulsion Mostly False, saying it ignored the decision by the other six members and that Crimea was taken from Ukraine.
“I would like you to do us a favor though because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it.”
· Phone call with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine (White House memorandum)
In the summer of 2019 the Office of Management and Budget withheld security assistance that Congress had appropriated for Ukraine. On a July 25 call, after Zelensky said Ukraine was almost ready to buy more Javelin anti-tank missiles, Trump asked him to look into CrowdStrike and, later in the call, the Bidens, according to the White House memorandum. The hold was extended nine times before a decision on September 11, 2019 to release the roughly $391 million. The Government Accountability Office concluded on January 16, 2020 that the withholding was for a policy reason and violated the Impoundment Control Act. The House impeached Trump on December 18, 2019, and the Senate acquitted him on February 5, 2020 by 52-48 and 53-47. Trump denied wrongdoing.
· Meeting with Vladimir Putin, G20 summit, Osaka, Japan
At the start of their meeting at the G20 summit in Osaka on June 28, 2019, a reporter asked Trump whether he would tell Russia not to meddle in the 2020 election. Trump answered, "Yes, of course, I will," which drew a laugh from Putin, then turned to him, pointed a finger and twice told him not to meddle. It was their first formal meeting since the July 2018 Helsinki summit. Trump also said of the journalists in the room, "Get rid of them. Fake news is a great term, isn't it? You don't have this problem in Russia but we do." Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Trump was giving Russia a green light to interfere again in 2020.
“It's not an interference, they have information. I think I'd take it.”
· Interview with George Stephanopoulos, ABC News, Oval Office
In an ABC News interview in the Oval Office on June 12, 2019, Trump was asked whether his campaign would accept information on an opponent from foreigners, such as Russia or China, or hand it to the FBI. He said, "I think maybe you do both," and that he would want to hear it. Told that FBI Director Christopher Wray had said the bureau would want to know about such offers, he said, "The FBI director is wrong." Federal Election Commission Chair Ellen Weintraub responded on June 13 that it is illegal to solicit, accept or receive anything of value from a foreign national in connection with a U.S. election. On June 14 Trump told Fox & Friends that "of course" he would report such an offer to the FBI or the attorney general.
“We didn't discuss that. Really, we didn't discuss it.”
· Oval Office, remarks with Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini of Slovakia
Trump and Putin spoke by phone for more than an hour on May 3, 2019, which appeared to be their first conversation since the end of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Trump tweeted that they had discussed trade, Venezuela, Ukraine, North Korea, arms control "and even the 'Russian Hoax.'" Asked whether he had told Putin not to meddle in the next election, he said they had not discussed it, and recounted that Putin "sort of smiled" and said the matter "started off as a mountain, and it ended up being a mouse." He also said Putin was "not looking at all to get involved in Venezuela"; Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had said that week that Russia persuaded Nicolas Maduro not to leave the country. Press secretary Sarah Sanders said the administration takes election meddling seriously.
“The reason Russia was in Afghanistan was because terrorists were going into Russia. They were right to be there.”
· Cabinet meeting, White House
At a Cabinet meeting on January 2, 2019, Trump said the Soviet Union went into Afghanistan in 1979 because terrorists were entering its territory, and that the war bankrupted it. An Associated Press fact check said the assertion was out of step with history: the Soviets were trying to bolster communists in Afghanistan, the United States boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics in protest, and the U.N. General Assembly voted 104-18 to deplore the intervention. The AP noted that Russian lawmakers were then weighing a resolution stating that the invasion had followed the norms of international law. The Wall Street Journal editorial board wrote that it could not recall "a more absurd misstatement of history by an American President." PolitiFact rated the claim Pants on Fire.
“We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency.”
· Twitter
On December 19, 2018, Trump announced the withdrawal of the roughly 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria, where Russia and Iran back the government of Bashar al-Assad. Putin said the next day that the decision to withdraw 'is right', that he largely agreed Islamic State had been defeated, and that he doubted the United States would fully leave. Six senators, four of them Republicans, wrote that the withdrawal 'emboldens ISIS, Bashar al Assad, Iran, and Russia', and British and French ministers said the group remained a threat. Trump wrote that Russia, Iran and Syria 'are not happy about the U.S. leaving', a claim PolitiFact rated False. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis resigned on December 20, writing that Trump had the right to a defense secretary 'whose views are better aligned with yours'. In February 2019 the White House said about 400 troops would remain, partially reversing the decision.
“The Summit with Russia was a great success, except with the real enemy of the people, the Fake News Media. I look forward to our second meeting so that we can start implementing some of the many things discussed, including stopping terrorism, security for Israel, nuclear........”
· Twitter
On July 19, 2018, press secretary Sarah Sanders announced that Trump had asked national security adviser John Bolton to invite Putin to Washington in the fall and that discussions were under way. CBS News reported that Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats learned of the invitation on stage at a security conference in Aspen and responded, 'Say that again?' Many members of Congress objected to a second meeting. On July 25, Bolton said the meeting would be put off until 'after the first of the year' because Trump believed it should take place 'after the Russia witch hunt is over'. Bolton renewed the invitation for 2019 in October 2018.
Two days after Helsinki, a reporter at a Cabinet meeting asked whether Russia was still targeting the United States. Trump answered 'No', and answered 'No' again when asked to confirm that he did not believe it to be the case, then said 'there's been no President ever as tough as I have been on Russia'. Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats had warned the previous week of a 'critical' threat of cyberattacks with Russia the 'worst offender', and on July 16 had cited Russia's 'ongoing, pervasive efforts to undermine our democracy'. Press secretary Sarah Sanders said later that day that Trump had been saying 'no' to answering questions, and that he believed Russia would target U.S. elections again.
“I understand what you're saying. I've asked the same question. Montenegro is a tiny country with very strong people.”
· Fox News interview with Tucker Carlson, recorded in Helsinki and aired July 17, 2018
Tucker Carlson asked why his son should go to defend Montenegro, which joined NATO in 2017, if it were attacked. Trump said he had asked the same question, then said Montenegrins were 'very aggressive people' who 'may get aggressive. And, congratulations, you are in World War III', before adding, 'that's the way it was set up'. NATO's Article 5 treats an attack on one member as an attack on all. A NATO official told the German agency DPA that the commitment remained 'unconditional and ironclad', Senator John McCain said Trump was 'playing right into Putin's hands', and Montenegro's government said its alliance with the United States was 'strong and permanent'. Trump had signed the protocol approving Montenegro's NATO membership in April 2017.
“My people came to me—Dan Coats came to me and some others—they said they think it's Russia. I have President Putin; he just said it's not Russia. I will say this: I don't see any reason why it would be, but I really do want to see the server.”
· Joint news conference with Vladimir Putin, Helsinki, Finland
On the morning of the summit Trump wrote that relations with Russia had 'NEVER been worse thanks to many years of U.S. foolishness and stupidity and now, the Rigged Witch Hunt!' At the news conference, days after the Justice Department indicted 12 Russian agents for hacking Democrats in 2016, he was asked whether he believed U.S. intelligence agencies or Putin. He said he did not see any reason why it would be Russia, that Putin 'was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today', and that he held 'both countries responsible' for the state of relations. Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats issued a statement the same day, without White House clearance, standing by the assessment of Russian meddling and 'their ongoing, pervasive efforts to undermine our democracy'. House Speaker Paul Ryan said Trump 'must appreciate that Russia is not our ally', and Senator John McCain called the performance 'one of the most disgraceful' by an American president in memory. On July 17 Trump said he had meant to say 'wouldn't' rather than 'would', that he accepted the intelligence community's conclusion that Russia meddled, and added: 'Could be other people also.'
“And what he did is an incredible offer; he offered to have the people working on the case come and work with their investigators with respect to the 12 people. I think that's an incredible offer.”
· Joint news conference with Vladimir Putin, Helsinki, Finland
At Helsinki, Putin said Russia could let U.S. investigators be present when it questioned the 12 Russians indicted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, on condition that Russian law enforcement could in turn question Americans, and he named associates of financier Bill Browder. Trump called it 'an incredible offer'. Russian authorities then named Americans they wanted to question, including former U.S. ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul. On July 18, press secretary Sarah Sanders said Trump would 'meet with his team' on the idea and that no commitment had been made. On July 19 the White House said the proposal 'was made in sincerity by President Putin, but President Trump disagrees with it'. The Senate voted 98-0 the same day for a resolution that no current or former U.S. official should be made available to Putin's government for interrogation.
At the NATO summit on July 11 and 12, 2018, Trump criticized allies over defense spending and Germany over a gas pipeline from Russia. NBC News reported, citing The Washington Post and two officials familiar with the discussions, that he prompted an emergency session of leaders by warning that the United States would go it alone or 'do its own thing' unless members immediately raised spending. Asked at his news conference whether he was still threatening to pull the United States out of NATO and could do so without Congress, he said he probably could but that it was unnecessary because members had 'stepped up', and called NATO 'very unified, very strong'. French President Emmanuel Macron said Trump never threatened to withdraw, and that the summit declaration 'confirms the goal of 2 percent by 2024. That's all.' Trump met Putin in Helsinki four days later.
Asked on June 29, 2018, whether reports that he might drop U.S. opposition to Russia's annexation of Crimea were true, Trump said: 'We're going to have to see.' Asked whether he would consider lifting the sanctions imposed over the annexation, he said: 'We'll see what Russia does.' He said he would raise Ukraine, Syria and election interference with Putin at their July 16 summit. Under both the Obama administration and, until then, Trump's, U.S. policy had been that the annexation violated international law. On July 25, 2018, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued the Crimea Declaration, which stated that the United States 'rejects Russia's attempted annexation of Crimea' and would maintain that policy until Ukraine's territorial integrity is restored.
“And in the G-7, which used to be the G-8, they threw Russia out. They should let Russia come back in. Because we should have Russia at the negotiating table.”
· Exchange with reporters at the White House before departing for the G7 summit in Canada
Russia was expelled from the Group of Eight in 2014 after it annexed Crimea. Leaving for the G7 summit in Quebec on June 8, 2018, Trump said Russia should be readmitted, adding that he had been 'Russia's worst nightmare'. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the European Union members attending were all against the idea; Italy's new prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, initially supported it. At his closing news conference on June 9, asked whether Crimea should be recognized as Russian, Trump said Barack Obama 'allowed Russia to take Crimea' and that 'it's been done a long time', and said he would rather see Russia in a G8 than a G7. BuzzFeed News reported on June 14, citing two diplomatic sources, that Trump told leaders at the summit dinner that Crimea was Russian because everyone there speaks Russian; press secretary Sarah Sanders said she was not aware of any such comment and would not discuss a private conversation.
“Yes, we'll do sanctions. As soon as they very much deserve it, we will have—that is a question. There has been nobody tougher on Russia than President Donald Trump.”
· News conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Palm Beach, Florida
On April 15, 2018, U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley said on CBS's Face the Nation that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin would announce new sanctions the next day on companies dealing in equipment related to Syria's chemical weapons. No sanctions were announced. CNN reported, citing administration officials, that Trump decided not to go forward, and Russia's foreign ministry said the United States had informed its embassy that there would be no new sanctions for now. Economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Haley 'got ahead of the curve' and that there 'might have been some momentary confusion'; Haley replied, 'With all due respect, I don't get confused', and Kudlow apologized, saying 'the policy was changed and she wasn't told about it'. Asked on April 18 why he had delayed the sanctions, Trump said they would come when Russia deserved them. On April 6, Treasury had sanctioned seven Russian oligarchs, 12 companies and 17 officials.
“I had a call with President Putin and congratulated him on the victory—his electoral victory.”
· Oval Office, before a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
Trump called Putin on March 20, 2018, two days after Putin's re-election, and congratulated him. The Associated Press, confirming a Washington Post report, said a section of Trump's briefing materials for the call read 'DO NOT CONGRATULATE'; it was unclear whether he had read them, and the White House called the leak 'a fireable offense and likely illegal'. AP reported that Trump did not raise Russia's election meddling or its suspected involvement in the nerve agent poisoning of a former spy in Britain. Senator John McCain said an American president 'does not lead the free world by congratulating dictators on winning sham elections'; the White House noted that Barack Obama had made a similar call after Putin's previous election. Trump wrote the next day that the media 'wanted me to excoriate him. They are wrong!' On March 26, 2018, he ordered the expulsion of 60 Russian intelligence officers and the closure of Russia's consulate in Seattle in response to the poisoning.
“The new language also ensures our agencies can delay sanctions on the intelligence and defense sectors, because those sanctions could negatively affect American companies and those of our allies.”
· State Department and Treasury announcements (quote from Trump's signing statement, August 2, 2017)
The Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act set deadlines for the administration to act against buyers of Russian defense and intelligence equipment and to report on senior Russian figures and oligarchs; CNN reported that the administration had missed an earlier October 1, 2017, deadline by almost a month. On January 29, 2018, the State Department said sanctions on specific entities 'will not need to be imposed because the legislation is, in fact, serving as a deterrent', estimating that foreign governments had abandoned several billion dollars in planned Russian arms purchases. Treasury published a list of 114 senior political figures and 96 oligarchs that it said was 'not a sanctions list'; CNN reported the oligarch names matched a Forbes list of Russian billionaires. Representative Eliot Engel said the administration had shown 'they won't act'. The administration later used the law: Treasury sanctioned five entities and 19 individuals on March 15, 2018, over election interference and cyberattacks, and seven oligarchs, 12 companies and 17 officials on April 6, 2018.
“He just—every time he sees me, he says, "I didn't do that." And I believe—I really believe that when he tells me that, he means it.”
· Aboard Air Force One en route from Da Nang to Hanoi, Vietnam
After brief conversations with Putin at the APEC summit in Da Nang, Trump told reporters on November 11, 2017, that Putin had again denied interfering in the 2016 election and was 'very insulted' by the accusation, and that he would rather work with him on Syria and Ukraine than argue. In the same exchange he called former officials John Brennan, James Clapper and James Comey 'political hacks'. The CIA said in response that Director Mike Pompeo stood by the intelligence assessment on Russian election meddling, which 'has not changed'. At a news conference in Hanoi the next day, Trump said he believed Putin 'feels that he and Russia did not meddle' and added: 'As to whether I believe it or not, I'm with our agencies, especially as currently constituted with their leadership.'
“I want to thank him, because we're trying to cut down on payroll. And as far as I'm concerned, I'm very thankful that he let go of a large number of people, because now we have a smaller payroll.”
· Exchange with reporters, Bedminster, New Jersey
Putin ordered a cut of 755 staff at U.S. diplomatic missions in Russia in response to the sanctions law Trump signed on August 2, 2017. Asked on August 10 for his response, Trump thanked Putin and said there was 'no real reason for them to go back'. Former ambassador Nicholas Burns called it 'a shameful statement', and Representative Eliot Engel, the senior Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, also criticized the remark. The next day Trump said he had been sarcastic.
“Still, the bill remains seriously flawed, particularly because it encroaches on the executive branch's authority to negotiate. Congress could not even negotiate a health care bill after 7 years of talking. By limiting the executive's flexibility, this bill makes it harder for the United States to strike good deals for the American people and will drive China, Russia, and North Korea much closer together.”
· White House signing statement
The Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act passed the House 419-3 and cleared the Senate 98-2. It imposed new sanctions on Russia and gave Congress the power to review and block any easing of them; CNN reported that White House officials had lobbied to weaken that review provision. Trump signed the bill on August 2, 2017, and issued two statements. One called the bill 'seriously flawed'; the other called it 'significantly flawed' and said it contained 'clearly unconstitutional provisions', including sections on recognition of territorial changes that he said displaced presidential authority, while adding that he shared their policy views. He said he was signing 'for the sake of national unity' and that he favored making clear the United States would not tolerate interference in its democratic process. The next day he wrote that relations with Russia were at 'an all-time & very dangerous low' and 'You can thank Congress'.
“The Amazon Washington Post fabricated the facts on my ending massive, dangerous, and wasteful payments to Syrian rebels fighting Assad.....”
· Decision reported July 19, 2017 (quote from Twitter, July 24, 2017)
The Washington Post reported on July 19, 2017, that Trump had decided to end the CIA's covert program, begun in 2013, to arm and train Syrian rebels fighting the government of Bashar al-Assad, a move the paper said Russia had long sought. Officials told the Post he made the decision nearly a month earlier, ahead of his July 7 meeting with Putin. One U.S. official told Reuters it was not a major concession given Assad's grip on power but was 'a signal to Putin that the administration wants to improve ties to Russia'; officials also said the program had produced little success and that some trained rebels had defected to Islamic State. General Tony Thomas said at the Aspen Security Forum on July 21 that the decision was 'absolutely not a sop to the Russians' and was based on an assessment of the program. A separate U.S. military effort supporting other Syrian forces continued. Trump acknowledged ending the payments in a July 24 post accusing the Post of fabricating facts.
“Putin & I discussed forming an impenetrable Cyber Security unit so that election hacking, & many other negative things, will be guarded..”
· Twitter
Two days after his first meeting with Putin at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Trump wrote on July 9, 2017, that he had pressed Putin twice about election meddling, that Putin 'vehemently denied it', and that the two had discussed forming a joint cyber security unit. He added that it was 'time to move forward in working constructively with Russia'. Senator Lindsey Graham called the idea 'pretty close' to the 'dumbest idea I've ever heard', and Senator Marco Rubio wrote that it was akin to partnering with Syria's Bashar al-Assad on a chemical weapons unit. That evening Trump wrote that the fact the unit was discussed 'doesn't mean I think it can happen. It can't'. In the same series of posts he wrote that sanctions were not discussed with Putin and that nothing would be done on them until 'the Ukrainian & Syrian problems are solved'.
“So the meal was going, and toward dessert I went down just to say hello to Melania, and while I was there I said hello to Putin. Really, pleasantries more than anything else. It was not a long conversation, but it was, you know, could be 15 minutes.”
· G20 summit, Hamburg, Germany (quote from New York Times interview, July 19, 2017)
Hours after a formal meeting of more than two hours on July 7, 2017, Trump spoke privately with Putin at a dinner for G20 leaders, relying on Russia's interpreter. The White House confirmed the conversation on July 18 after it was reported, said no staff had been present, and called the suggestion that it had tried to hide a second meeting 'false, malicious and absurd'. Ian Bremmer of the Eurasia Group, who first described the encounter, said it lasted about an hour; Trump said about 15 minutes and that they discussed adoption. In January 2019 The Washington Post reported, citing current and former U.S. officials, that after the formal Hamburg meeting Trump took possession of his interpreter's notes and told the interpreter not to discuss the meeting with other officials. Trump responded that he was 'not keeping anything under wraps', and a White House spokesman said Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had given a full readout of the Hamburg meeting to officials and the press.
“23 of the 28 member nations are still not paying what they should be paying and what they're supposed to be paying for their defense.”
· Dedication of the Berlin Wall and 9/11 and Article 5 memorials, NATO headquarters, Brussels
Speaking on May 25, 2017, at the dedication of a memorial to the only invocation of Article 5, Trump noted that allies had invoked the clause after the September 11 attacks but did not explicitly endorse it. Article 5 treats an attack on one NATO member as an attack on all. CNBC reported that he had been widely expected to back it publicly for the first time and that the omission came as Russia had become more militarily assertive. A senior White House official told NBC News that his participation alone should be seen as an endorsement and that stating it 'would be redundant'. Former U.S. ambassador to NATO Ivo Daalder said allied leaders had hoped to hear the words and that their absence 'was a problem'. On June 9, 2017, at a news conference with Romania's president, Trump said: 'I'm committing the United States to article 5.'
“As President I wanted to share with Russia (at an openly scheduled W.H. meeting) which I have the absolute right to do, facts pertaining.... ...to terrorism and airline flight safety. Humanitarian reasons, plus I want Russia to greatly step up their fight against ISIS & terrorism.”
· Oval Office meeting with Sergey Lavrov and Sergey Kislyak (quote from Twitter, May 16, 2017)
On May 10, 2017, the day after he dismissed FBI Director James Comey, Trump met Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in the Oval Office. The Washington Post reported on May 15 that he described details of an Islamic State threat involving laptop computers on aircraft, using intelligence from a U.S. partner that had not given permission to share it with Russia. National security adviser H.R. McMaster said the story 'as reported, is false' and that no intelligence sources or methods were discussed; Trump wrote the next day that he had an 'absolute right' to share the facts. Several outlets then reported that the intelligence came from Israel. The New York Times reported, citing a document summarizing the meeting, that Trump also told the Russians that Comey was 'a real nut job' and that firing him had taken off 'great pressure because of Russia'; the White House did not dispute that account. The Post noted that a president has broad authority to declassify information, making it unlikely the disclosure broke the law.
“There are a lot of killers. We've got a lot of killers. What do you think — our country's so innocent. You think our country's so innocent?”
· Fox News interview with Bill O'Reilly (excerpt released February 4, 2017; aired February 5)
In an interview with Bill O'Reilly of Fox News, Trump said he respected Putin and that it was better to get along with Russia than not. When O'Reilly said Putin was a killer, Trump replied that there were a lot of killers and asked whether the United States was so innocent, then referred to the Iraq war, saying 'a lot of people were killed'. A clip of the exchange was released on February 4, 2017, and the full interview aired the next day before the Super Bowl. CNN described the comparison as an unusual assertion for a U.S. president. On February 6 the Kremlin called O'Reilly's description of Putin 'unacceptable and insulting' and asked Fox News for an apology.
“They have sanctions on Russia — let's see if we can make some good deals with Russia. For one thing, I think nuclear weapons should be way down and reduced very substantially, that's part of it. But Russia's hurting very badly right now because of sanctions, but I think something can happen that a lot of people are gonna benefit.”
· Interview with The Times of London and Bild at Trump Tower (published January 15, 2017)
The interview, conducted by Michael Gove for The Times and Kai Diekmann for Bild, was published two days later; Reuters reported that Trump would propose ending sanctions imposed over Russia's annexation of Crimea in return for a nuclear arms reduction deal. In the same interview he again called NATO 'obsolete', which Germany's foreign minister said had caused 'worry and concern' in the alliance; Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was too early to respond to the sanctions suggestion. The same day Trump told The Wall Street Journal he would keep the sanctions imposed in December 'at least for a period of time' but asked: 'If you get along and if Russia is really helping us, why would anybody have sanctions if somebody's doing some really great things?' Asked by Bild whom he trusted more, Angela Merkel or Putin, he said: 'I start off trusting both, but let see how long that lasts.' On August 2, 2017 he signed the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, which enacted new sanctions on Russia, calling the bill 'seriously flawed'.
“Well, if — if Putin likes Donald Trump, I consider that an asset, not a liability, because we have a horrible relationship with Russia.”
· President-elect's news conference, Trump Tower, New York
It was Trump's first news conference after the January 6 assessment that Putin had ordered the influence campaign and preferred him. He said, 'As far as hacking, I think it was Russia. But I think we also get hacked by other countries and other people,' and, when a reporter noted the concession, 'All right, but you know what, it could have been others also.' Asked whether he accepted the finding that Putin acted to help him and whether he would undo Obama's sanctions, he gave the answer above and added, 'Now, I don't know that I'm gonna get along with Vladimir Putin. I hope I do. But there's a good chance I won't.' Four days earlier he had tweeted: 'Having a good relationship with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing. Only "stupid" people, or fools, would think that it is bad!'
“Julian Assange said "a 14 year old could have hacked Podesta" - why was DNC so careless? Also said Russians did not give him the info!”
· Twitter (@realDonaldTrump)
The WikiLeaks founder's interview with Sean Hannity had aired on Fox News the previous evening. The night before, Trump had tweeted that his intelligence briefing on 'so-called "Russian hacking"' had been 'delayed until Friday, perhaps more time needed to build a case. Very strange!'; intelligence agency chiefs said the meeting had never been scheduled before Friday. Sen. Lindsey Graham responded: 'In Julian Assange's world, we're the bad guys.' On January 5 Trump tweeted that he was not 'in Agreement with Julian Assange' and that 'I simply state what he states'. The declassified assessment released on January 6 said the intelligence community assessed 'with high confidence that the GRU relayed material it acquired from the DNC and senior Democratic officials to WikiLeaks'. Trump's statement after his briefing that day did not address who was responsible, saying that 'Russia, China, other countries, outside groups and people are consistently trying to break through the cyber infrastructure' and that 'there was absolutely no effect on the outcome of the election'.
“Great move on delay (by V. Putin) - I always knew he was very smart!”
· Twitter (@realDonaldTrump); the tweet was pinned to the top of his profile
Putin had set aside a recommendation from his own government to retaliate against the sanctions and expulsions Obama announced on December 29, saying Russia would not pursue 'irresponsible diplomacy'; the Russian Embassy retweeted Trump's post. According to the special counsel's report, on December 29 incoming national security adviser Michael Flynn, after conferring with transition officials at Mar-a-Lago, asked Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak that Russia 'not escalate the situation' and respond only 'in a reciprocal manner'; that day K.T. McFarland briefed Trump, who asked whether the Russians did 'it' and 'expressed doubt that it was the Russians'. On December 31 Kislyak told Flynn that Russia had chosen not to retaliate 'in response to the request'. Flynn told the special counsel's office he did not document his discussion of sanctions 'because it could be perceived as getting in the way of the Obama Administration's foreign policy'.
“I think that computers have complicated lives very greatly, the whole you know age of computer has made it where nobody knows exactly what's going on”
· Remarks to reporters at Mar-a-Lago, Palm Beach, Florida
Asked whether the United States should sanction Russia over the hacking, Trump replied, 'I think we ought to get on with our lives,' before adding the remark above and 'I'm not sure you have the security that you need.' He said he had not spoken with Sen. Lindsey Graham, who had proposed sanctions on Putin personally. The next day President Obama sanctioned the GRU and FSB, four GRU officers and three companies, declared 35 Russian intelligence operatives persona non grata and closed two Russian compounds in Maryland and New York. Trump's statement in response said: 'It's time for our country to move on to bigger and better things. Nevertheless, in the interest of our country and its great people, I will meet with leaders of the intelligence community next week in order to be updated on the facts of this situation.' On New Year's Eve he told reporters, 'I know a lot about hacking, and hacking is a very hard thing to prove, so it could be somebody else.'
“A very nice letter from Vladimir Putin; his thoughts are so correct. I hope both sides are able to live up to these thoughts, and we do not have to travel an alternate path.”
· Statement released by the presidential transition, Palm Beach, Florida
The transition released Putin's letter, dated December 15, in which Putin wrote that he hoped 'to take real steps to restore the framework of bilateral cooperation' once Trump took office; Moscow confirmed the letter was authentic. That evening Trump tweeted a remark he attributed to Putin about Clinton and the Democrats, 'In my opinion, it is humiliating. One must be able to lose with dignity,' and added: 'So true!' The exchange came two weeks after reports of the CIA's assessment that Russia had intervened in the election to help him, and six days before the Obama administration announced sanctions and expulsions over the interference.
“I think it's ridiculous. I think it's just another excuse. I don't believe it.”
· Interview on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace
The Washington Post reported on December 9, 2016 that the CIA had concluded in a secret assessment that Russia intervened in the election to help Trump win. His transition team responded that night: 'These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. The election ended a long time ago in one of the biggest Electoral College victories in history. It's now time to move on'. On Fox, Trump said 'They have no idea if it's Russia or China or somebody. It could be somebody sitting in a bed some place' and 'I think the Democrats are putting it out'. On December 12 he tweeted, 'Unless you catch "hackers" in the act, it is very hard to determine who was doing the hacking. Why wasn't this brought up before election?' and on December 15, 'If Russia, or some other entity, was hacking, why did the White House wait so long to act?' The declassified assessment released on January 6, 2017 by the CIA, FBI and NSA found that Putin had ordered the influence campaign and that Moscow 'developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump'.
“She has no idea whether it's Russia, China, or anybody else.”
· Third presidential debate, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Clinton said 17 civilian and military intelligence agencies had concluded that the cyberattacks came 'from the highest levels of the Kremlin' and were designed to influence the election. Trump interjected 'And our country has no idea,' and when she asked whether he doubted the agencies, 'Yeah, I doubt it. I doubt it.' Clinton said he would 'rather believe Vladimir Putin than the military and civilian intelligence professionals'. Moderator Chris Wallace asked whether he condemned any Russian interference; Trump said 'Of course I condemn' and 'I never met Putin. This is not my best friend,' then said 'Putin has outsmarted her and Obama at every single step of the way.' The Department of Homeland Security and the Director of National Intelligence had stated on October 7 that 'only Russia's senior-most officials could have authorized these activities'; the declassified intelligence community assessment of January 6, 2017 concluded with high confidence that Putin had ordered an influence campaign aimed at the election.
“But I notice, anytime anything wrong happens, they like to say the Russians are—she doesn't know if it's the Russians doing the hacking. Maybe there is no hacking. But they always blame Russia. And the reason they blame Russia because they think they're trying to tarnish me with Russia.”
· Second presidential debate, Washington University in St. Louis
The debate came two days after the Department of Homeland Security and the Director of National Intelligence stated that the intelligence community was 'confident that the Russian Government directed the recent compromises of e-mails' and that the disclosures 'are intended to interfere with the US election process'. Trump also said 'I don't know Putin', 'I know nothing about Russia' and 'I have no loans from Russia'. On Syria, moderator Martha Raddatz reminded him that his running mate Mike Pence had said provocations by Russia should be met with American strength and that the United States should be prepared to strike the Assad regime's military targets; Trump answered, 'He and I haven't spoken, and I disagree. I disagree,' adding that 'Syria is fighting ISIS' and 'Russia is killing ISIS'.
“I don't think anybody knows it was Russia that broke into the DNC. She's saying Russia, Russia, Russia, but I don't—maybe it was. I mean, it could be Russia, but it could also be China. It could also be lots of other people. It also could be somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds, OK?”
· First presidential debate, Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York
Trump added, 'You don't know who broke in to DNC,' and that what the hack revealed was that 'Bernie Sanders was taken advantage of by your people'. Eleven days later the Department of Homeland Security and the Director of National Intelligence stated publicly that the intelligence community was 'confident that the Russian Government directed the recent compromises of e-mails' and believed that 'only Russia's senior-most officials could have authorized these activities'. The declassified intelligence community assessment of January 6, 2017 assessed with high confidence that Russian military intelligence, the GRU, used the Guccifer 2.0 persona and DCLeaks.com to release stolen material and relayed material to WikiLeaks. On July 13, 2018 the special counsel's office obtained an indictment of 12 GRU officers, principally for conspiring to commit computer intrusions. On Fox News Sunday on December 11, 2016 Trump repeated the point: 'It could be somebody sitting in a bed some place.'
“I think it's probably unlikely. I think maybe the Democrats are putting that out. Who knows? But I think that it's pretty unlikely. But, you know, who knows?”
· Telephone interview with Larry King for Ora TV's PoliticKING, aired on RT America
King asked what Trump thought of U.S. intelligence and law-enforcement agencies investigating whether Russia was trying to disrupt the election. Trump added that if Russia was doing something he hoped 'somebody's going to be able to find out so they can end it because it wouldn't be appropriate at all', and, asked whether he agreed with Putin that the DNC hack was a public service, said: 'I don't have any opinion on it. I don't know anything about it. I don't know who hacked.' RT America, which is owned by the Russian government, held the U.S. broadcast rights to King's program under a syndication deal with Ora TV; campaign aide Steven Cheung said Trump 'recorded a short interview with Larry King for his podcast as a favor to Mr. King', and Kellyanne Conway said 'Nobody said it would be on Russian TV.' On October 7, 2016 the Department of Homeland Security and the Director of National Intelligence stated that the intelligence community was 'confident that the Russian Government directed the recent compromises of e-mails from US persons and institutions, including from US political organizations'.
“If he says great things about me, I'm gonna say great things about him. I've already said he is really very much of a leader. I mean, the man has very strong control over a country. And that's a very different system and I don't happen to like the system. But certainly in that system he's been a leader, far more than our president has been a leader.”
· NBC News Commander-in-Chief Forum, Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, New York
The forum, hosted by NBC News and moderated by Matt Lauer, had Trump and Hillary Clinton stake out positions on national security and was billed as a preview of the first debate on September 26. The day before, at a town hall in Virginia Beach with retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, Trump had said: 'Putin looks at Hillary Clinton and he smiles. Boy, would he like to see her.' The day after the forum he told Larry King that Russian interference in the election was 'probably unlikely'.
“He's not going into Ukraine, OK? Just so you understand. He's not going to go into Ukraine, all right? You can mark it down and you can put it down, you can take it anywhere you want.”
· Interview on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos
Stephanopoulos replied, 'Well, he's already there, isn't he?' and Trump said, 'OK, well, he's there in a certain way, but I'm not there yet.' Asked about his statement that he might recognize the annexation of Crimea, he said: 'I'm going to take a look at it. But, you know, the people of Crimea, from what I've heard, would rather be with Russia than where they were. And you have to look at that, also.' The next day he tweeted that he had meant Putin would not go into Ukraine 'if I am President. Already in Crimea!' and told Sean Hannity, 'I mean, Crimea is gone.' At a rally in Columbus, Ohio that day he asked: 'You wanna have World War III to get it back?' The United States and the European Union had refused to recognize the 2014 annexation.
“Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 e-mails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.”
· News conference at Trump National Doral, Miami
Asked whether he would tell Putin to stay out of the election after the release of hacked Democratic National Committee emails, Trump said 'Why do I have to get involved with Putin? I have nothing to do with Putin' and that if Russia was responsible, 'which it's probably not, nobody knows who it is', it showed 'how little respect they have for our country'. According to the special counsel's report, 'within approximately five hours of Trump's statement' Russian GRU officers targeted for the first time email accounts at Hillary Clinton's personal office. In written answers to the special counsel in November 2018 Trump said he made the statement 'in jest and sarcastically, as was apparent to any objective observer'. The report said the investigation 'did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities'. Two days earlier he had tweeted: 'The new joke in town is that Russia leaked the disastrous DNC e-mails, which should never have been written (stupid), because Putin likes me'.
“We'll be looking at that. Yeah, we'll be looking.”
· News conference at Trump National Doral, Miami
A reporter asked whether, as president, he would recognize Crimea as Russian territory and whether the United States would lift sanctions. Russia annexed Crimea in March 2014; the United States and the European Union refused to recognize the annexation or the referendum used to justify it and imposed sanctions on Russian state banks and corporations. At the same news conference Trump said: 'I said that Putin has much better leadership qualities than Obama, but who doesn't know that?' Four days later, on ABC's This Week, he said of Crimea, 'I'm going to take a look at it. But, you know, the people of Crimea, from what I've heard, would rather be with Russia than where they were.' As president he signed the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act on August 2, 2017, which enacted new sanctions on Russia.
“Have they fulfilled their obligations to us? If they fulfill their obligations to us, the answer is yes.”
· Interview with The New York Times at the Republican National Convention, Cleveland
Asked by David Sanger whether NATO members in the Baltics could count on U.S. military aid if attacked by Russia, Trump conditioned the answer on whether they had met their obligations and said 'right now there are many countries that have not fulfilled their obligations to us'. The Times reported that this appeared to be the first time a major presidential candidate had suggested conditioning the defense of allies; Article 5 of the NATO treaty requires members to come to the aid of any member that NATO declares was attacked, and had been invoked only once, after September 11, 2001. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg responded in a statement that 'solidarity among allies is a key value for NATO', and Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves posted evidence that his country was meeting its defense commitments. Earlier in the interview Trump said 'I think Putin and I will get along very well' and, asked directly whether he would come to the aid of Estonia, Latvia or Lithuania, said 'I don't want to tell you what I'd do because I don't want Putin to know what I'd do.'
“They softened it, I heard, but I was not involved.”
· Republican National Convention platform committee, Cleveland (quote from ABC's This Week, July 31, 2016)
On July 11, 2016, delegate Diana Denman proposed a platform amendment describing Russia's 'ongoing military aggression' in Ukraine and supporting 'providing lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine's armed forces'. According to the special counsel's report, campaign adviser J.D. Gordon and another campaign staffer asked a subcommittee co-chair to table it, and it was adopted with the weapons language replaced by 'appropriate assistance'. Gordon told investigators he objected because of Trump's stated positions that Europeans should take primary responsibility for Ukraine and that he did not want to 'start World War III over that region'; Denman said Gordon told her he was 'talking to New York', which Gordon disputed. The report stated that the investigation 'did not establish that one Campaign official's efforts to dilute a portion of the Republican Party platform on providing assistance to Ukraine were undertaken at the behest of candidate Trump or Russia', and Trump's written answers said he did not recall being involved. In December 2017 the Trump administration approved the sale of 210 Javelin anti-tank missiles and 35 launchers to Ukraine.
“the question was asked of me a few days ago about NATO, and I said, well, I have two problems with NATO. No. 1, it's obsolete. When NATO was formed many decades ago we were a different country. There was a different threat.”
· Telephone interview with The New York Times (transcript published March 26, 2016)
In two telephone conversations on Friday, March 25, 2016, Trump told the Times' David Sanger and Maggie Haberman that NATO was obsolete because it was not focused on terrorism and because 'the United States bears far too much of the cost of NATO'. On Ukraine he said 'it didn't seem to me like anyone else cared other than us' and that the countries bordering Ukraine were 'not even asking us for help'. Four days earlier he had told The Washington Post's editorial board that 'NATO is costing us a fortune' and asked 'why is it that Germany is not dealing with NATO on Ukraine?' He repeated the 'obsolete' label through the campaign and again in a January 2017 interview with The Times of London and Bild, after which Germany's foreign minister said the comment had caused 'worry and concern' in the alliance. At a joint news conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on April 12, 2017 he said: 'I said it was obsolete; it's no longer obsolete.'
“Well, I think our country does plenty of killing also, Joe. You know. There's a lot of stupidity going on in the world right now, Joe. A lot of killing going on and a lot of stupidity and that's the way it is.”
· Call-in interview on MSNBC's Morning Joe
Host Joe Scarborough asked whether Trump was concerned about Putin's tactics, including the alleged killing of political dissidents and journalists. Trump first said, 'He's running his country and at least he's a leader. You know, unlike we have in this country,' then gave the answer above; Talking Points Memo reported that he eventually said he 'absolutely' condemned the killing of journalists. On ABC's This Week two days later he said: 'In all fairness to Putin, you're saying he killed people. I haven't seen that. I don't know that he has. Have you been able to prove that?' and 'it's never been proven that he's killed anybody.' Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney criticized the remarks. At a rally in Grand Rapids on December 21, 2015 he returned to the subject: 'they say, he killed reporters. I said, really? He says, he didn't. Other people say he didn't. Who did he kill?'
“It is always a great honor to be so nicely complimented by a man so highly respected within his own country and beyond. I have always felt that Russia and the United States should be able to work well with each other towards defeating terrorism and restoring world peace, not to mention trade and all of the other benefits derived from mutual respect.”
· Campaign statement released by spokeswoman Hope Hicks
At his annual news conference on December 17, 2015, Putin called Trump 'a bright and talented person without any doubt' and, according to the Russian news agency TASS, 'the absolute leader of the presidential race'. Trump's statement was issued later that day. Jeb Bush responded on Twitter that 'a true freedom-loving conservative wouldn't be flattered by praise from a despot like Putin'. Trump kept returning to the compliment; at a rally in Milford, New Hampshire on February 2, 2016 he said rivals had told him to disavow it: 'I said I'm not disavowing that he called me a genius. Are you crazy?'
“if Putin wants to go and knocked the hell out of ISIS, I am all for it, 100%, and I can't understand how anybody would be against it”
· Republican presidential debate, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Fox Business Network)
Moderator Maria Bartiromo noted that Russia had invaded Ukraine and put troops in Syria and asked what he would do about Russian aggression. Trump said he had 'got to know him very well because we were both on 60 Minutes'; he later acknowledged on Twitter that they had appeared in 'separate pieces' of the broadcast. Jeb Bush answered, 'Donald's wrong on this. He is absolutely wrong on this,' and said the idea that Putin would take out ISIS was 'like a board game'. On Ukraine, Trump said he was 'all for protecting Ukraine' but that Germany and 'countries that are surrounding the Ukraine' were not doing anything and 'we can't continue to be the policeman of the world'. He had made the same argument on CNN on August 11, 2015: 'why isn't Germany and Europe fighting for Ukraine?'
“They say it wasn't them. It may have been their weapon, but they didn't use it, they didn't fire it, they even said the other side fired it to blame them. I mean to be honest with you, you'll probably never know for sure.”
· Interview on MSNBC's Morning Joe, followed by a statement to CNN
Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over Ukraine in 2014. Trump was asked about a report released the previous day by Dutch investigators that the plane was brought down by a Russian-made rocket and warhead, and what he would do as president to hold Russia accountable. CNN reported that U.S. intelligence had determined with confidence soon after the attack that a Russian-supplied missile fired from separatist-controlled territory brought the jet down, and that it stood by that assessment. Asked by CNN about the U.S. assessment, Trump said: 'It's disgusting and disgraceful but Putin and Russia say they didn't do it, the other side said they did, no one really knows who did it, probably Putin knows who did it. Possibly it was Russia but they are totally denying it.' He later said the culprit was 'probably' Russia and pro-Russian fighters, but that 'we really probably won't know for sure'.
“I believe I would get along very nicely with Putin, OK? And I mean, where we have the strength. I don't think you'd need the sanctions. I think we would get along very, very well.”
· Question-and-answer session at FreedomFest, Las Vegas
The question came from Maria Butina, a Russian gun-rights activist who said she was 'visiting from Russia' and asked whether he would 'continue the politics of sanctions' as president. The sanctions had been imposed in 2014 over Russia's annexation of Crimea. According to the Senate Intelligence Committee's 2020 report, Butina called Russian official Alexander Torshin from the restroom afterward, calling it 'my best report', and posted that evening that 'Trump is saying about mitigation of sanctions'. In December 2018 Butina pleaded guilty in federal court in Washington to conspiring against the United States under the direction of a Russian official. Trump had said on NBC's Today on March 14, 2014 that 'We should definitely do sanctions'. As president he signed the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act on August 2, 2017, which enacted new sanctions on Russia, while calling the bill 'seriously flawed'.
“Putin even sent me a present, beautiful present with a beautiful note. I spoke to all of his people and you know, you look at what he's doing with President Obama. He's like toying with him. He's toying with him. So he has the Olympics the day after the Olympics. He starts with Ukraine. The day after, how smart.”
· Speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference, National Harbor, Maryland
Trump spoke as Russian forces were moving into Crimea; Russia annexed the peninsula in March 2014, and the United States and the European Union refused to recognize the annexation and imposed sanctions. Trump told CPAC that by taking Crimea Putin was 'taking the heart and soul because that's where all the money is' and predicted 'the rest of Ukraine will fall'. In the same weeks he also backed sanctions: on NBC's Today on March 14, 2014 he said 'We should definitely do sanctions'. In an April 2014 Fox News interview he said of Putin's move, 'And so smart. When you see the riots in a country because they're hurting the Russians, okay, "We'll go and take it over." And he really goes step by step by step, and you have to give him a lot of credit.' At the National Press Club on May 27, 2014 he said he had 'spoke indirectly and directly with President Putin, who could not have been nicer'.
“if you look at it, what he said is true. There are many things in that letter, whether you like Putin or don't like Putin, that were -- you know, that are absolutely true.”
· Interview on Fox News' On the Record with Greta Van Susteren
Putin's op-ed, published by The New York Times on September 11, 2013 under the headline 'A Plea for Caution From Russia', argued against a U.S. strike on Syria and took issue with President Obama's reference to American exceptionalism, saying it was 'extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional'. Van Susteren noted that House Speaker John Boehner had said he was insulted by the piece. Trump said the letter made Putin 'look extremely diplomatic' and 'very reasoned', that other countries 'are insulted' by talk of American exceptionalism and 'that's what Putin was saying'. Earlier that day he tweeted that the letter was 'a masterpiece for Russia and a disaster for the U.S.' On CNN the next evening he called the op-ed 'amazing' and said Obama was 'being outplayed by, you know, Putin to an extent that nobody has ever seen'.
“Do you think Putin will be going to The Miss Universe Pageant in November in Moscow - if so, will he become my new best friend?”
· Twitter (@realDonaldTrump)
Trump co-owned the Miss Universe pageant, which was staged at Crocus City Hall in Moscow on November 9, 2013 with the Agalarov family as local partners. According to the Senate Intelligence Committee's 2020 report, time was left open in Trump's schedule that afternoon in case Putin agreed to meet; instead Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called to say Putin could not receive Trump because an official visit by the King of the Netherlands had run late, and Putin later sent Trump a letter and a lacquer box through Aras Agalarov. In an interview with MSNBC in Moscow that week Trump said 'I do have a relationship' with Putin and that Putin had 'done an amazing job'. At a news conference on July 27, 2016 he said: 'I have nothing to do with Putin. I've never spoken to him.'
“Look at Putin -- what he's doing with Russia -- I mean, you know, what's going on over there. I mean this guy has done -- whether you like him or don't like him -- he's doing a great job.”
· Interview on CNN's Larry King Live
Trump appeared on Larry King Live on October 15, 2007 to promote his book 'Think Big and Kick Ass'. Asked why he was so critical of President George W. Bush, he said the United States had become 'a country that's no longer respected', criticized the Iraq war and pointed to Putin as an example of a leader who was succeeding. He said Putin was doing a great job 'in rebuilding the image of Russia and also rebuilding Russia period.'