In a phone call Thursday with golfer John Daly, former President Donald Trump talked about nuclear weapons and threats he says he made to Russian President Vladimir Putin
“They’re all saying, ‘Oh he’s a nuclear power,'” Trump said of Putin on the call, which Daly put on speakerphone at the Hoag Classic tournament in California. “It’s like they’re afraid of him.”
A bystander filmed Daly, who took the call while enjoying food and drinks inside the Newport Beach Country Club.
“You know, he was a friend of mine,” Trump continued. “I got along great with him. I say, ‘Vladimir, if you do it, we’re hitting Moscow. I said, ‘We’re gonna hit Moscow.'”
While Trump and Daly were ostensibly referring to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, it’s unclear what Trump was alluding to regarding his conversation with Putin while in office.
“I said, ‘We’re gonna hit Moscow,'” Trump said. “And he sort of believed me, like five percent, 10 percent. That’s all you need.”
Trump also repeated his claim that Putin didn’t invade Ukraine while he was president because “he knew he couldn’t.”
“He never did it during my time, John, you know,” Trump said.
John Bolton, Trump’s former national security advisor, said on Friday that Putin was waiting to invade until Trump’s second term because he believed Trump would withdraw the US from NATO.
“It’s funny how Xi didn’t bother you either,” Daly said, referring to Chinese president.
“No, Xi didn’t bother me,” Trump said. “I told him the same thing. That’ll be next. That’s gonna be next. Taiwan will be next. You won’t have any computer chips. They’ll blow them off the face of the earth.”
