At a CNN town hall event this week in New Hampshire, former president Donald Trump stated that the European Union needed to start contributing “a great deal more money” to support the conflict in Ukraine, which he promised to “resolve in one day” if elected.
The 45th president was questioned about whether he agreed with the Biden administration’s position to keep supplying Ukraine with weapons and equipment by a Saint Anselm’s College student.
Trump answered:
“Now, here’s the issue — got to say it to start with, it doesn’t matter anymore – if I had been president, this would never have occurred, and even the Democrats acknowledge that. Putin was aware that neither it nor his pipeline would have ever taken place. Numerous events would not have occurred, all of those deceased individuals, both Russian and Ukrainian, would be alive today. And those cities that were destroyed completely by explosions would not have occurred.”
“The issue is that we have already donated $171 billion. They have donated almost $20 billion, with they referring to the European Union, which is roughly the same size as our economy overall. Since we are at $170 and they are at $20, it is clear that they are somewhat more impacted than we are without having to know too much about geography or history. They must thus provide far more money since they are exploiting us in the same way that every other nation did.”
When CNN moderator Kaitlan Collins pressed Trump about whether, if elected, he would maintain the Biden administration’s policy of arming and financing Ukraine, Trump responded that he would have meetings with Putin and Zelensky and “have that conflict resolved in one day — 24 hours.”
Trump said, “I do not think about the concept of winning or losing,” when Collins pressed him more on who he would prefer to win the battle. “I believe in finding a solution so we can stop murdering everyone.”
“I want everyone to have longer lives. Russians and Ukrainians are perishing,” he said. “I want these people to stop dying. And I’ll complete it within 24 hours, I promise. To do this, you need the president’s authority.”
When Collins questioned Trump about his opinion of Putin, he responded, “If you claim that he’s a war criminal, I think it’s going to be a lot more difficult to strike a deal to get this whole thing stopped given that if Putin is considered a war criminal in which individuals are going to capture him and execute him, he is going to be fighting a great deal harder in comparison to under the alternative circumstance.”
“That’s something we’ll talk about later. We want to end that conflict right now,” he said.
