Trump repeatedly uses 'the N-word' in Fox interview but he meant 'nuclear'

Former US President Donald Trump has claimed that Putin is “constantly using the n-word”, as in “nuclear” and said the Russian invasion wouldn’t have happened if he was still in the White House.

“I listen to him constantly using the n-word, that’s the n-word, and he’s constantly using it, the nuclear word. And we say ‘oh he’s a nuclear power’ but we’re a greater nuclear power,” he told Fox Business.

The US should step up and offer more military assistance to Ukraine, he said, and claimed the US has a fleet of submarines that are “the most powerful machines ever built”.

He said: “You should say ‘look, if you mention that word one more time we’re going to send them over and we’re going to be coasting back and forth, up and down your coast'.

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“You can’t let this tragedy continue, you can’t let these thousands of people die. It’s going to be hundreds of thousands and maybe millions by the time it ends.”

Trump said that during his time in the Oval Office, he boosted the US’s nuclear capabilities.

He said: “We had 45-year-old and 50-year-old weapons that we didn’t even know if they’d work, now we have brand new stuff that’s immensely powerful and you hope to God you never have to use them because that would be a tragedy of all tragedies. But if we didn’t have it we couldn’t talk.”

Trump, who has previously praised Putin, was asked if he respects him.

The former president said he’s a “different person” compared to when he was in the Oval Office.

“I got along with him, loving this country, and he loves his country, okay. But he’s a different person than he was, he seems to be different,” he said.

“It just doesn’t seem to be the same person I was dealing with.”

He continued: “We did well with Russia. They didn’t attack any other countries under us. I’m the only one where that didn’t happen. And with Bush, they took Georgia, and they took Crimea with Biden and Obama. And now he said ‘to hell with it. Let’s take the whole thing’.”

Trump says US needs to get off the sidelines in Ukraine’s fight for survivalwww.youtube.com

Trump previously told Fox that he “got along” with Putin, and claimed that he also “got along” with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un and China’s Xi Jinping.

Trump’s latest interview comes as US President Joe Biden prepares to visit Poland on Friday.

Biden will hold a bilateral meeting with President Andrzej Duda in Warsaw, and will discuss how the US and its allies can respond to the humanitarian and human rights crisis that Russia’s invasion has created.

The White House said it will follow his meetings in Brussels with other Nato allies, G7 leaders, and European Union leaders to discuss international efforts to support the war-torn country and impose “severe and unprecedented costs” on Russia for the invasion.

Biden yesterday spoke with president Emmanuel Macron of France, chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany, prime minister Mario Draghi of Italy, and prime minister Boris Johnson of the UK.

In a statement, the White House said the leaders discussed their concerns about Russia’s brutal tactics and underscored their continued support for Ukraine.

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