WASHINGTON — Free from the supervision of European leaders, President Donald Trump on Tuesday reverted to form, blaming Ukraine for getting invaded by Russia and making dictator Vladimir Putin’s arguments on his behalf.
“Russia is a powerful military nation. You know, whether people like it or not, it’s a powerful nation. It’s a much bigger nation,” Trump said in a 25-minute, phoned-in appearance on Fox News’ morning show. “You don’t do that. You don’t take ― you don’t take on a nation that’s 10 times your size.”
Trump had, at least during the public parts of Monday’s meetings, refrained from offering his pro-Putin views and instead gave the appearance of solidarity with Europe in its support of Ukraine.
That performance was gone, though, by Tuesday morning when he called in to “Fox & Friends.”
Trump again offered warm words for Putin, who has been charged with war crimes for his conduct in the invasion, and whom Trump invited to Alaska last week: “You saw that when he got off his plane, I got off my plane. There’s a warmth there that you can’t ― you know, there’s a, there’s a decent feeling.”
