Reporter Asks Trump About Putin's Moves: 'What Kind Of Play Is He Playing From Your Perspective? '

While meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office, President Trump was asked about Russian President Vladimir Putin's actions.

Transcript

00:00And they wake up in the morning, and the glamour's gone, the whole world is

00:05different, and they become hostile. I don't know what it is. Someday you'll

00:09write a book about it and you'll let us know.

00:12Mr. President, speaking of ending wars in this room, you were very critical of

00:16Vladimir Putin a couple of days ago. What kind of play is he playing from your

00:21perspective? Well, look, he got hit. He's been doing hitting, so I understand it,

00:27but he got hit hard. And I don't think he's playing games. I think he, I've always

00:33said he wanted the whole thing. I thought he wanted the entire, everything having to

00:39do with Ukraine. That's something that would have never happened if I were

00:43president. The election was rigged. I didn't get to be president, but I got to be

00:46president now. And I think it's a much more important presidency. Other than a

00:51couple of things like that, the war would have never, would have never happened.

00:56The war with Ukraine, with Putin, would have never happened, ever. Not even a chance.

01:00And it didn't happen for four years. And it wasn't thought of. I used to talk to him

01:04about Ukraine a lot. It was the apple of his eye, but he would have never done what he did.

01:09And I think mistakes were made by him, but I think mistakes were made by

01:14other people. The president should have never allowed that war. Biden should have never allowed

01:19that war to happen. If you had the right guy in here, that war would have never happened. Israel

01:25would have never happened with Hamas. That would have never happened. The attack on Israel would

01:31have never happened because Iran was broke. They had no money. They had no money to give to Hamas or

01:38Hezbollah or anybody else. And all of that would have never happened. Inflation wouldn't have happened.

01:43It was caused mostly by energy. And the Biden administration messed up my great energy policy.

01:50We were down into the 190 a gallon and it would have never happened. It was caused by energy and

01:56their bad spending on the Green News scam and other things that they spent on. But all of those things

02:01would have never happened. But maybe most importantly, the war, Chancellor, with, with Russia

02:08would never have happened with Ukraine. It was something that would have, you know, I, I dealt with Putin a lot.

02:16There was no chance, zero. And you know, a lot of people say, how do you know? For four years,

02:22it didn't happen. There was never a chance of it happening. And he understood the consequences. Now,

02:28it's a shame. And when you see all of those people, they came out with a report today

02:33that, that millions of people, millions of people have died, much more than people thought.

02:40And I've been saying that for a long time. The amount of death in that war is far greater than the

02:46news has been reporting. Or than, frankly, that either side has been reporting. It's a very sad thing.

02:51And I can tell you, just speaking for the Chancellor, because we speak about it,

02:54that he feels the same way. He wants to see it ended. Would you like to say something?

02:58Absolutely. Absolutely.