Thread by @Mylovanov

Trump: Europe will give Ukraine major security guarantees — they should, it’s their neighborhood. We’ll back them up. If we get a deal and I think we will, I don’t see big problems. We’ll support it because I want the killing to stop.

1/

Q: Have you spoken to Putin since last Monday?

Trump: Every talk starts good, then a bomb hits Kyiv and I get angry. I think we’ll end this war. Putin coming to Alaska was a big statement he wants it done. Not easy for him to come.

2/

Trump: We want denuclearization — too much power. But first we must end the war. In Alaska we also talked missiles, nuclear limits, bringing China in. U.S. has the most, Russia second, China third but catching up in 5 years.

3/

Q: Why is Putin reluctant to meet Zelenskyy?

Trump: He doesn’t like him — they don’t like each other. If we had a real president, not from a fraudulent election, this war would never have happened. Putin said so. After Afghanistan’s incompetence, he saw weakness.

4/

Trump: I said Zelenskyy is the greatest salesman — better than PT Barnum. He’d visit and walk out with $50B, once even $100B. Total $350B. I secured $1T worth of rare earth for America because I wasn’t going to let our taxpayers carry it all.

5/

Trump: We don’t pay Ukraine anymore. At NATO, I changed it — wealthy countries weren’t paying. Now NATO requests missiles, we supply, NATO pays in full. They can give them to Ukraine or use them otherwise, but we deal only with NATO, not Ukraine.

6/

Trump: I don’t blame Ukraine [for asking money and getting it]. We were in for $350B. Now we make money — we sell weapons to NATO. They went from 2% to 5% because of me, now paid up with trillions. But I don’t want profit, I want the war to end and lives saved.

7/

Q: How would your ties with Russian and North Korean leaders affect diplomacy?

Trump: I have very good relations with Kim Jong-un. We had 2 summits, got along great. I know him better than almost anyone except his sister. With me there was no problem.

8X