Donald Trump threatened Vladimir Putin he would ‘bomb the s*** out of Moscow’ if he invaded Ukraine, leaked audio has revealed.
According to the US President’s telling, a shocked Putin replied ‘no way’ butTrump said ‘way’ in an almost playground-style argument.
Trump also told China’s leader Xi Jingping he would ‘bomb the s*** out of Beijing’ if the country invaded Taiwan.
The remarks were secretly recorded at fundraising events in 2024 as he was vying to be re-elected.
Trump claimed to potential donors: ‘With Putin I said, “If you go into Ukraine, I’m going to bomb the s*** out of Moscow. I’m telling you I have no choice.”
‘And then [Putin] goes, like, “I don’t believe you.” But he believed me 10%.’
Trump later says he made the exact same threat to President Xi, adding: ‘He thought I was crazy… we never had a problem.’
The US leader had previously spoken about a ‘very strong conversation with President Putin’ but refused to go into any details, only saying it was enough to deter Russia from invading Ukraine.
He has continually claimed since he left office: ‘If I were president, this war would have never happened’ – repeating it once again at the G7 summit in Canada last month.
Trumps inflammatory comments from the campaign trail were released by CNN after it was obtained by the authors of a book called 2024, detailing Trump’s return to the White House.
The revelations come as Trump ripped into his Russian counterpart over stalling peace negotiations with Ukraine.
He accused his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin of providing little but ‘bulls***’.
In the angry cabinet meeting outburst, Trump admitted that brokering a ceasefire for the three-year Russia-Ukraine war has been more difficult than he anticipated.
‘It’s turned out to be tougher, but it’s only tougher,’ he added.
‘And I will say the Ukrainians were brave, but we gave them the best equipment ever made.’
While on the other side of the world, Trump’s remarks point to escalating tensions towards China and Taiwan.
In October, China carried out drills around Taiwan, saying it was launching ‘joint assaults’ to practice ‘combat readiness patrols, blockades of key ports and areas, assaults on maritime and ground targets, and the seizure of comprehensive superiority’.
The war games were branded ‘blatant provocations’ by Taiwan, which said Beijing’s refusal to rule out all-out war was threatening peace in the region.
Chinese state media, however, boasted how ships entered the ‘restricted waters’ of Matsu for the first time and that the People’s Liberation Army simulated missile launches.
The tensions are part of a long-standing spat over Taiwan’s political status which has its roots in China’s violent communist revolution.
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