The way Donald Trump views Russia has changed. Despite his initial seeming softness toward Russian President Vladimir Putin, a leaked audio tape that CNN was able to obtain indicates otherwise. Russia has now responded to Trump’s alleged threat to bomb Moscow, which he made.
Russia and the United States have a complicated relationship. Three years ago, Russia invaded Ukraine, changing the world and the relationship between Russia and the United States, among many other nations.
Before taking office in January, Donald Trump claimed to have a good relationship with Vladimir Putin and promised to put an end to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine within 24 hours. Although that did not occur, Trump had multiple phone conversations with the Russian president at the time.
Regarding Putin at the time, Trump stated: “I mean, I know him very well, and I think he wants peace.” Yes, it seems to me that he desires peace. If he didn’t, I believe he would tell me. I have faith in him regarding this matter.
Today, though, things are very different. The peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine have failed, and Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Putin was “throwing a lot of bullsh*t at the US” in reference to his opposition to a peace agreement.
At a Cabinet meeting, Donald Trump declared, “I’m not happy with Putin.” “I’m not happy with them at all.”
Donald Trump said he would “bomb Moscow.”
Although Donald Trump hasn’t been particularly critical of Putin in the media, it seems like he had different plans last year. CNN said on Tuesday that they had audio from Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign in which he told donors that he would “bomb the sh*t out of Moscov to retaliate if Putin would attack Ukraine.”
“I told Putin that I would bomb the living daylights out of Moscow if he invaded Ukraine. According to CNN, Trump stated, “I’m telling you I have no choice,” at a 2024 fundraiser. He believed me 10%, but then [Putin] said, ‘I don’t believe you.'”
Later, Donald Trump asserted that he had issued a similar warning to Chinese President Xi Jinping about a possible invasion of Taiwan. It was about bombing Beijing at the time.
Regarding Xi, Trump claimed that “we never had a problem” and that “he thought I was crazy.”
Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager, and Isaac Arnsdorf had also acquired the audio tapes and described some of the conversations in their book, 2024.
Regarding the audio files that CNN was able to obtain, neither Donald Trump nor his administration have commented. It is unclear when and where the purported conversation between Trump and Putin occurred, even though the news outlet stated that the audio was from 2024.
Russia reacts
Donald Trump’s assertions on the audio tape were quickly refuted by the Kremlin. The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, did not confirm or deny that Trump had warned Putin about Ukraine, according to a report published by Newsweek on Wednesday, which cited the Russian state news agency TASS.
In the meantime, he claimed that when Trump wasn’t the US president, the two had not spoken on the phone.
Peskov stated, “The truth is that there were no telephone conversations back then.” After all, from what I understand, we are discussing the time before Trump was elected president of the United States.
“We also don’t know if this is real or not. Fakes are common these days. Fakes are frequently far more prevalent than accurate information. And when we examine specific news, we always start with this,” Peskov continued.