Donald Trump has said he would pay less attention to the media if re-elected to the presidency, blaming Joe Biden and Barack Obama for creating a dangerous alliance between Russia and China — and claiming he himself has been persecuted more than “a combination of Al Capone, Jesse James and Billy the Kid”.
The former president spoke to Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Wednesday night during a 40-minute interview, which dealt with Ukraine, energy policy and inflation.
He said that Obama and Biden made big mistakes with Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, and accused them of “leading these two big monsters together.”
And his friend Hannity Trump, who said he was still considering whether to run in 2024, asked what he would do differently if he won a second term.
“I think one of the things I would do differently,” he said, “is that I found the media so corrupt, that I would focus almost on it at all—only focus on getting the job done for the American people.”
Donald Trump spoke Wednesday night to Fox News anchor Sean Hannity
Trump blamed Joe Biden, who was seen on Tuesday, for inflation – saying his energy policy has been a disaster
“You care about the media, you deal with the media. They’re very dishonest, they write contrary things, they have sources that aren’t sources. They’re incredibly disingenuous — hence the name fake news.”
I really think I’m going to focus on getting the job done, getting our country back – our country has never been in the position it is in now, with such disrespect around the world.
Trump is so bitter about the reports of his presidency that he has said he was duped by the media — accusing it of failing to report on Hunter Biden’s business dealings, and instead being sucked into “a Russia, Russia, Russia hoax.”
He was also angered by the lawsuits against him.
“I’ve been subjected, in five years, to more investigations than Al Capone, Jesse James, and Billy the Kid,” he told Hannity with a laugh.
If I fly over a Democratic state in my plane, I’ll end up in front of a grand jury.
It’s a disgrace, and the people of this country will not take it.
“They weaponized law enforcement, basically.”
He criticized the former attorney general, Bill Barr, for fearing impeachment, and said he told Barr not to worry because his impeachment helped his assessment.
Trump is pictured on April 9 at a rally in Selma, North Carolina. He is still considering whether to run for office again
Turning to Ukraine, Trump asserted that he had strengthened NATO by making other members pay their fair share, and said he had warned Angela Merkel, the former German chancellor, not to rely too much on Russia for their oil.
“Don’t forget,” he said, “I rebuilt NATO.”
“Because when I became president, the first thing I noticed when I went there for the first meeting was that most countries weren’t paying — they were paying a lot less than they were supposed to.”
He also stressed his defense spending, and his energy independence policy — ridiculing Joe Biden for promoting green energy, insisting it is insufficient for America’s needs.
“They don’t have the power to fuel our great factories and build our great businesses,” he said, before returning to his repeated warning that wind turbines killed the vultures.
Today I saw a big story that windmills are being charged millions and millions of dollars because they are killing vultures.
They kill bald eagles and other eagles and other birds and we have these windmills everywhere and environmentalists pretend they love them, but they are really hurting our country.
“Undervaluing, it totally killed us.
One of the most expensive forms of energy.
All turbines are made in China or Germany, so they take advantage of that.
‘It is ridiculous.’
“But the real problem is if you go green, you don’t have the ability to fuel our great plants, our factories, and all the things that we do that we’re famous for.”
Trump and Hannity discussed inflation and rising energy costs, with Trump blaming Biden’s promotion of green energy
Vladimir Putin, on April 13, told Trump he would not have invaded Ukraine if he was still in power.
Trump said Biden pushed Xi Jinping (pictured April 8) closer to Putin
The 75-year-old Hannity, who on Feb. 22 called Putin’s invasion of Ukraine “genius” — comments that drew condemnation from Republicans like Lindsey Graham — told Hannity he now thought the war was “horrible.”
Hannity did not ask him about his previous description of the conflict, but Trump told him he was “very sad when you see tens of thousands of people dying.”
He referred to it as “genocide” — echoing Biden’s announcement on Monday.
Trump resumed his familiar objection that it wouldn’t have happened if he were still president.
“I knew Putin very well,” Trump said.
‘We’ve talked about it. We talked about it a lot.
He wanted to get to Ukraine, but I said, you’re not going to Ukraine.
“He would never have gone to Ukraine.”
He added that the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, would have equally discouraged an attempt to militarily take over Taiwan, which Beijing considers part of its territory.
“Chinese President Xi would never have thought of going to Taiwan,” Trump said.
Not during the Trump administration.
Asked which country – China or Russia – poses the biggest threat, Trump wavered, saying they both pose threats in different ways.
But he was unequivocal in blaming Barack Obama and Biden for drawing Putin and Xi closer together.
“What Obama and Biden did: They did the worst thing that could ever happen,” he said.
They led, because of energy and other reasons, and stupidity, they led Russia and China together.
This is something that could never have happened.
Because they did the worst thing ever. They drove these two big beasts together.
