Former President Donald Trump on Saturday defended praise for Russian President Vladimir Putin, while calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky "a brave man" amid Russia's deadly invasion of his country.
"He's a brave man, he's hanging on," Trump said of Zelensky at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, even as he refused to back down from congratulating Putin as "smart". done.
"The problem is not that Putin is smart, who is smart, of course," Trump said. "The problem is that our leaders are dumb... and until now, let them get away with this ridicule and attack on humanity."
"Putin is playing Biden like a drummer and it's not a pretty thing to see," he continued.
The former president has repeatedly praised Putin in the days since Russian troops entered Ukraine and launched rocket attacks against the country's capital, Kiev. His remarks on Zelensky come days after he praised Putin for calling the Kremlin leader "talented" and "sensible" in a radio interview. Those comments were the latest in several instances where the 45th president approved or praised authoritarian rulers. Trump has earlier made positive remarks about Putin, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
But other Republicans have refrained from praising the Kremlin leader. In back-to-back appearances at the CPAC, GOP presidential candidates echoed Trump's criticism of the Biden administration, but stopped praising Putin like the former president.
Although Trump downplayed the Kremlin leader's praise with a scathing condemnation of Putin's decision to "ruthlessly attack" Ukraine, he saved his strongest criticism for Biden and the elected Democrats.
"The Russian attack on Ukraine is appalling. It is an outrage and an atrocity that should never be allowed to happen," Trump told a conservative gathering in Orlando. "I have no doubt that President Putin made his decision only after seeing the pitiful withdrawal from Afghanistan." Thirteen US service members were killed this summer in a bombing at Kabul airport during the Biden administration's withdrawal from Afghanistan, which has since come under Taliban control.
The former president, who was impeached for the first time during his presidency after using security aid to Ukraine to pressure the country's officials to investigate his political rival, also credited Ukraine with arms in his remarks on Saturday. Tried to take
Trump said, "I gave Ukraine the spear that everyone is talking about now and other military equipment worth millions of dollars. The Obama administration gave them blankets."
Trump said Russia would never have invaded Ukraine if he had been president and claimed - falsely - that the 2020 election was stolen.
"Under Biden, Russia invaded Ukraine. I stand as the only president of the 21st century under whose watch Russia has not invaded another country," Trump said during his presidency. Describing the notion as "powerful, cunning and smart". ,
"Under our administration, Russia respected America," he told the crowd.
Despite Biden regularly adopting new sanctions on Russia during his time in office, Trump claimed that the Biden administration was leaving Putin "without consequence", adding new sanctions on Ukraine's export bloc and Russian banks and oligarchs. By responding to his full-scale invasion with sanctions. , On Thursday, Biden unveiled a new round of sanctions after Putin ordered Russian troops into Ukraine.
"Putin is saying, 'Approve me?' Well, they've taken me for granted for the past 25 years," Trump said, calling Biden's response a "quite weak statement" earlier this week.
Other Republicans who took the stage at the CPAC this week have also encouraged the Biden administration to take strong action against Putin, though they have refused to use the same positive rhetoric about the Russian leader that Trump has often deployed. has done.
"A strong US president will work with European partners to replace the supply of Russian oil with American energy and they will hit Putin where it really hurts - on the Russian energy sector. If Joe Biden can't do these things If he doesn't, he should resign," South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem announced in a speech Friday.
Trump also used his appearance on Saturday to summarize his first impeachment in 2019 after Trump used security aid to Ukraine to pressure the country's officials - including Zelensky - of his political rivals. Came to check.
"It really was a scam," Trump said of the impeachment proceedings.
And he has strongly indicated that he intends to run for the White House again in 2024, telling the Orlando crowd that voters will show the nation that the "sleeping giant has woken up" starting November 8 and Then even more in November 2024.
"We did it twice and we'll do it again," Trump said.
Trump has yet to formally announce his intentions for a future presidency, but he is taking steps that suggest he is gearing up for a re-match with Biden. Trump made similar remarks at the CPAC last year, shortly after losing to his Democratic rival.