Donald Trump on Wednesday accused Joe Biden of capitulating to Russia, concluding that the president ‘got nothing’ from his meeting in Geneva with Vladimir Putin.
Trump said that, in addition to gaining nothing, Biden had given up the ‘unbelievably valuable’ Nord Stream pipeline.
The U.S. president last month lifted sanctions against the against the company and CEO behind the nearly completed Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which would transport natural gas from Russia to Germany.
The pipeline is already more than 90 per cent complete, and Biden concluded that it was not worth antagonizing Germany over. Others, such as Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, argued that sanctions should be maintained, to avoid giving the impression of giving in to the Kremlin.
‘I guess the overall is we did not get anything,’ said Trump, speaking to Sean Hannity’s Fox News show.
Donald Trump on Wednesday night appeared on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show, to provide his assessment of Joe Biden’s first foreign trip. He said that Biden had given away too much to Vladimir Putin, and said Europe was continuing to ‘screw’ the United States
Hannity asked his friend what he felt about Biden’s performance and cognitive ability, with the 75-year-old Trump being careful not to criticize his 78-year-old successor for being too old
‘We gave a very big stage to Russia, and we got nothing.
‘We gave up something that was unbelievably valuable.
‘I stopped the pipeline, Nord stream, and that pipeline was stopped. And it was given back, and nothing was gotten for it.
‘And it was just, it was another day.’
He added: ‘I think it was a good day for Russia. I don’t see what we got out of it.’
The 75-year-old said that the Nord Stream pipeline particularly irritated him, because Germany was receiving NATO protection and the benefit of 52,000 U.S. troops stationed in their country, yet still wanted to buy their natural gas from Russia.
He said he had ‘stopped it from being built’.
Joe Biden is seen in Geneva on Wednesday, holding a news conference shortly after his meeting with Vladimir Putin concluded. Both Biden and Putin said the meeting had been constructive. But while the two leaders struck a largely positive tone, tensions were apparent. Putin continued to deny Russian involvement in cyberattacks and dismissed questions about the treatment of opposition activist Alexei Navalny
Biden and Putin shake hands on Wednesday in Geneva, at the beginning of their three-hour meeting. The two men have met before, but this is the first time both are heads of their respective countries
Trump explained: ‘I said, let’s get this straight, to Angela, I said: “We protect you, and the people that we protect you from, the country, you are paying billions of dollars, how does that work?”‘
EUROPE AND A TRADE IMBALANCE
He said he was particularly concerned about the trade imbalance, and accused Europe of ‘screwing’ the United States.
‘Think of it. We pay for their protection, and they – excuse the word – they screw us on trade, that is the only word that is descriptive enough.
‘Because they are in many ways worse than China or as bad as China on trade.
‘How many Chevrolets are being sold in Berlin? Not too many. How many Chevrolets are being sold in Paris? Not too many. Maybe none.
‘And yet, we sell their products, their wines and their cars and their Mercedes and BMWs and everything else, we sell it all over our country, and all of that was stopping.’
Trump, seen on June 5 in North Carolina, spoke to Hannity by phone on Wednesday. He said he had been disappointed by concessions given to Russia
Trump is pictured on June 28, 2019, at a meeting with Putin at the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan. Trump met with Putin at least five times during his presidency – following their Helsinki meeting, Trump insisted on confiscating notes made by those inside the room
HAMPERED BY INVESTIGATIONS
The former president, speaking from his Bedminster golf club in New Jersey – where he is spending the summer – said that the investigations into his own dealings with Russia, led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, had made his own dealings with Putin more complicated.
‘For five years, from the day I came down the escalator, we have been under investigation, and it turned out to be all false stuff,’ he said.
‘It was a terrible thing with the Russia, Russia, Russia, which actually made it difficult to deal with Russia.
‘It was a disgrace, an absolute disgrace that it should happen, and it really was dangerous and very bad for our country.’
Trump held his first formal summit with Putin in 2018, concluding with an announcement that shocked the world: He supported Putin’s claim that Russia had not interfered in the 2016 U.S. election, despite the findings of his own intelligence officials.
Fiona Hill, then Trump’s top Russia adviser, she had considered pulling a fire alarm or faking a medical emergency just to end the ‘terrible spectacle.’
Hannity asked Trump whether he thought Biden was right not to hold a joint press conference with Putin in Geneva, to which Trump replied: ‘I got along really well with him. Nobody was tougher on Russia. He would say that, but nobody was tougher on Russia.’
And he said that he was dismayed by Biden, asked whether he still believed Putin was a killer, laughing.
Trump said he wished Biden well, but he was concerned.
‘I think the election was unbelievably unfair, but I want this guy to go out and do well for our country,’ said Trump.
‘I don’t want to see a scene like that. I watched that yesterday, I thought it was terrible. It was terrible.
‘Nobody knew what was happening.’
Vladimir Putin is seen on Wednesday at his own press conference following the meeting with Biden
Trump on Wednesday night said he was concerned about reports of young people suffering adverse effects from the COVID-19 vaccination, insisting that he supported the vaccination campaign but only for those for whom it was necessary.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has, since May 27, recommended that all people over the age of 12 be vaccinated against the virus.
More than 400 children in the United States have died from it, and tens of thousands have been hospitalized. The death toll for the country as a whole is now 600,000.
Yet Trump said he was not sure if children benefitted from the jab.
‘We have to get back into schools, they have to get open,’ he said.
Trump, seen on June 5 in North Carolina, said he believed in vaccinating people against COVID-19, but not necessarily children. More than 400 youngsters have died from the virus so far
Children aged 12 and over are now being recommended by the CDC to receive the jab
‘And frankly, we are lucky we have the vaccine, but the vaccine on the very young people is something that you’ve got to really stop.
‘I am a big believer in what we did with the vaccine, it is incredible what we did. You see the results.
‘But to have every school child, where is 99.99%, they just don’t – you know, they are just not affected or affected badly, having to receive a vaccine, I think it is something that you should start thinking about because I think it is unnecessary.’
The president said he felt vindicated by his decision to stop flights coming from China in the early days of the pandemic, and then end routes from Europe.
‘Nobody did as good of a job as the pandemic as we did, and that is why we are leading the world in terms of coming back,’ he said.
WUHAN LAB LEAK?
He said he felt the COVID-19 virus was ‘a terrible accident, but it came from a lab’.
Pressed by Fox News’s Sean Hannity on whether he thought the virus could have been deliberately spread, he said he hoped and believed not.
‘That horrible thing that came at us from China, and came at us from the Wuhan lab, it changed my whole line of thinking,’ he said.
‘And you just, I really hope, and I believe it was an accident, it was incompetence.
‘I guess some people don’t necessarily agree with that. They think maybe there was purpose to it, which would be absolutely terrible.
‘But we have to find out more about it, why did it happen, how did it happen, how could anybody be so incompetent, and that is not a group of incompetent people.
‘I believe it was a terrible accident, but it came from the lab.’
Trump said he was convinced that COVID-19 escaped from the Wuhan lab (pictured). He said he believed it was an accident, driven by incompetence, rather than a deliberate spreading of the lethal virus
Workers are seen inside the Wuhan lab, which is now the focus of investigations to understand where and how the pandemic began, and try and stop another similar outbreak
Trump announces he will hold his first post-White House rally on June 26 in Ohio and it will be the start of ‘first of many appearances’
Former President Donald Trump has announced he will hold his first post-White House rally on June 26 in Ohio.
He pledged his supporters that it will be the ‘first of many appearances’.
It will take place at the Lorain County Fairgrounds in the village of Wellington, around 40 miles southwest of Cleveland, at 7pm.
The first post-presidential rally on June 26 is expected to be followed by an event in the Tampa area on July 3.
Former President Donald Trump has announced he will hold his first post-White House rally on June 26 in Ohio. Above, Trump is pictured on June 5
A statement from the Save America PAC said the rally would mark ‘President Trump’s first of many appearances in support of candidates and causes that further the MAGA agenda and accomplishments of President Trump’s administration’
The event is being sponsored by the Save America movement.
A statement from the Save America PAC said the rally would mark ‘President Trump’s first of many appearances in support of candidates and causes that further the MAGA agenda and accomplishments of President Trump’s administration.’
Lara Brown, director of the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University, told USA Today that the events will allow Trump ‘to reconnect with his supporters, which also means gathering and updating the contact information that his political team has for those who attend his rallies.’
CHINA MUST PAY REPARATIONS
The 75-year-old said he thought China needed to pay reparations for the pandemic, which has killed 3.2 million people and infected 177 million.
He has previously said China owed $10 trillion, but insisted on Wednesday that was not sufficient.
‘The number is much higher than that, but there is only so much they can pay,’ said Trump.
‘And that is to us.’
He added that ‘virtually every country has been devastated,’ noting the suffering in India at the moment.
‘Countries have been destroyed over what they did, and whether, by accident or not – and I would hope it was accident, I hope it was through incompetence or an accident – but when you look, whether it was by an accident, whether it was whatever it is, this – you look at these countries, they will never ever be the same.
‘Our country was hit so hard, but other countries were hit much harder.’
Trump said that he felt the pandemic had benefitted China economically.
‘If you think about it, in certain ways, maybe they benefited very greatly,’ he said.
‘I mean, very, very greatly, and I can tell you they benefited with the U.S.
‘Because we were in a process of doing things where we caught up to China at a level that nobody thought was possible, and once the China virus came in, we had to take a very different – look, the world changed. The whole world changed.
‘You did not think about the economics, you thought about saving people and saving lives, so the world changed.’
ADMITTING DEFEAT
Trump, in the interview, admitted defeat in the 2020 election for the first time, stating: ‘We didn’t win.’
‘We were supposed to win easily, 64 million votes,’ said Trump.
‘We got 75 million votes, and we didn’t win, but let’s see what happens on that.’
The 75-year-old, seen at a June 5 rally in North Carolina, teased once again a run for the White House in 2024, telling Hannity that he was dismayed with the state of the country
Residents of Atlanta, Georgia, are seen casting their votes on October 12, in early voting ahead of the November 6 election day. Trump on Wednesday finally admitted he lost
Trump’s comments would appear to end seven months of his disputing the November 6 election, although his caveat of ‘let’s see what happens’ does appear to leave open a flicker of hope of overturning the result – something which now seems incredibly unlikely.
Trump said that the five months of a Biden presidency were showing voters why he should have been re-elected.
UNIMPRESSED BY HIS SUCCESSOR
He said the country was now in a ‘shocking’ state, but the solutions were evident.
‘Look, when you talk about a strong military, when you talk about the economy, when you talk about we don’t want inflation, inflation is going to kill the economy,’ he said, listing his priorities.
‘By the way, now you are going to see very soon a big interest rate increase all of a sudden, which is that is step one.’
He told viewers it bore echoes of the Carter administration where, from his inauguration in January 1977 until Ronald Reagan’s inauguration in January 1981, inflation measured by the CPI averaged 10.4 per cent annually.
The prime interest rate, however, as Trump pointed out, was at 21 per cent.
‘I was there,’ said Trump. ‘And you couldn’t get anything.
‘The economy came to a halt.’
The former president said that he was concerned about the shortage of lumber for construction, which he blamed on Canada’s policies.
Supporters of the former president are hoping he runs again. Cars are seen on Long Island in New York on June 14, flying ‘Trump 2024’ flags
He also said the United States was moving away from being energy independent.
‘We no longer will be energy independent. Within a matter of weeks. They are closing down everything,’ he warned.
‘What’s happening is not to be believed.
‘I’ll tell you, the biggest beneficiary as Russia and Saudi Arabia and the Middle East.
‘I mean, these people, they are going to make more money than they have ever made.’
Trump pointed to rising fuel costs, saying that when he left office in January a gallon of gas was $1.87.
‘Now it is over $3,’ he said. ‘It’s going to up to $5, $6, or $7, mark my words.
‘Frankly, for our country, it is a disaster. It’s going to stop everything.’
Motorists are seen lining up for fuel in Washington DC, when the Colonial Pipeline was taken out by a cyber attack. Trump said he was concerned at rising fuel prices
He then boasted about the bottom falling out of the oil market, during the pandemic, when travel ground to a halt and the demand for fuel dried up. Trump appeared to take credit for the low price.
‘We had a point where we were getting fuel for $0.
‘In fact, you would get, they would give you $38 if you took at,’ he said.
‘Nobody has ever seen anything like it. Now we had to straighten that out because that would have hurt our industry, but we ended up having a great energy industry, and we ended up with low prices, and now, we are not going to be – within a matter of weeks, we will no longer be energy independent, and we are going to be relying again on the Middle East and Russia and all of these other people because we are being led very, very stupidly.’
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The former president told Hannity that he had ‘said this during the debates and people didn’t listen.’
Trump, seen dancing during a campaign rally in October 2020, said he is strongly considering a repeat run at the presidency
CONSIDERING A 2024 RUN
But he once again said that he was strongly considering attempting to retake the White House in 2024.
‘The fake news does not like talking about it, but the numbers are really incredible, so I’m working to get a lot of good Congress people elected,’ he said, referencing the 2022 midterms.
‘And then, we’ll be making a decision on 2024, but if you look at the numbers, people are liking me more than ever before.
‘I think the reason is they are watching what is happening with our country, they are watching no energy independence, never has there been a scene like what is happening at the border, and the death that is being caused.
‘This is not just border, this is death and criminals pouring into our country.
‘They are looking at the economy and inflation, looking at interest rates and gasoline prices, and I guess it is making me very popular.’
