US Elections: Trump on His Relationship with Putin: He Once Told Me I Was Brutal

Donald Trump In addition to economic topics and issues related to the election campaign, he addressed, among others, accusations of sympathizing with Russia and Vladimir Putin.

– They say: “he was nice to Russia”. No, Putin even told me once: “if you were going to be friendly to me, I wouldn't want you to be mad at me because you're brutal” – said Trump, taking credit for the “killing” Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.

In fact, the former president signed a defense budget in 2020 that included sanctions against some companies involved in the pipeline construction, but they did not stop the project from being implemented. This only happened after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Referring to the war in Gaza and the ongoing ceasefire talks, Trump said he would not give advice to the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahubecause he “knows what he's doing”.

READ MORE: “NYT”: Israel's army has achieved everything it could in the Gaza Strip

At the same time, however, he admitted that during a July meeting with him at his Florida estate, he advised the Israeli politician to end the war as soon as possible. “It has to end quickly. But end with a victory. Take your victory and end it. The killing has to end,” Trump said.

Commenting on the criminal cases brought against him and a possible prison sentence in the New York trial, Trump – who called for Hillary Clinton to be sentenced to prison during the 2016 election campaign – said it was thanks to his decision that his former presidential rival ultimately did not end up behind bars.

– As for Hillary Clinton, when it came time to make a decision, I said I didn't want a wife. President of the United States in prison. I want the country to come together, he said, adding that he was friends with Bill Clinton.

Donald Trump also commented on the current election campaign, emphasizing that although most polls indicates the advantage of his rival Kamala Harris, in fact he is leading in public opinion polls. Asked about the position of his advisers, who were supposed to recommend that he stop insulting Kamala Harris and focus on specific issues, Trump replied that, just as she does, he has the right to attack his rival, referring to her personality traits.

“I don’t have a lot of respect for her, I don’t have a lot of respect for her intelligence, and I think she would be a terrible president,” he said. He added that to win, his campaign must “define Harris as a communist, a socialist, or someone who will destroy our country.”

On the Democratic side, on Thursday, for the first time since the party changed its presidential candidate, the incumbent president appeared at a joint rally Joe Biden and his potential successor, the vice president Kamala Harris. Biden said Harris would be a “damn good president.” He also deliberately misspelled his predecessor Donald Trump’s last name, calling him “Donald Dump.”

“The guy we're running against, what was his name? Donald Dump or Donald…whatever. They want to get rid of what we've adopted,” Biden said, referring to reforms that would cap prices for drugs like insulin.