Former President Donald Trump said Thursday that North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un “is not a happy person” with the Biden administration and explained why he chose to include letters from world leaders he called “bad people.”
“We’ve had a lot of great letters from a lot of great people and not-so-great people. to be honest with you. Some good and some bad and some that are in between. But they are very famous people,” Trump said of the collection of letters he includes in his new book.
He called Kim, whom he previously described as exchanging ‘love letters’ with him while in office, ‘shrewd’, he told DialyMail.com and a handful of reporters.
He was very smart, very cunning, very cunning. And we, we talked a lot, actually, we talked a lot and I think we really had, you know, a great relationship.
It came during an interview in which the former president wished his rival, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, the best after his fall at the former Trump hotel.
“I don’t agree with almost everything he does, but I certainly would like to see him get better,” Trump, former President Donald Trump, said of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who fell at the former Trump hotel.
“But I thought that Kim Jong-un is a very, very interesting guy, and we had a good relationship. And I think he is not a happy person right now regarding the Biden administration,” Trump said.
Trump’s book also includes a letter from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is currently embroiled in a brutal war against Ukraine, with Russia launching dozens of missiles at its neighbor overnight.
As he did while in office, Trump spoke of the benefits of “getting along” with rivals, once again asserting that Putin would not have invaded during his tenure. (Putin invaded Crimea in 2014 and continues to hold the territory.)
‘Getting along with these leaders, when they have big, powerful weapons and, you know, they have warring countries. You see that’s happening right now. Getting along is good. I’ll tell you Russia – zero chance that Russia entered Ukraine. Zero, it would never have happened,’ Trump said without commenting otherwise on the recent anniversary of the war that Putin unleashed.
‘And zero chance that China has done what it may be doing and we’ll have to see what happens with Taiwan. Zero, zero, zero chance. It just wouldn’t have happened.
Trump called North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un “cunning”
His book includes a letter from Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom he met in Helsinki during his presidency and accepted his denials of election hacking.
Trump referenced concerns that China might try to invade Taiwan. “We’ll have to see what happens with Taiwan,” he said.
Trump called some of the leaders “bad.” He exchanged what he called ‘love letters’ with Kim.
Trump sidestepped a question about whether the book includes letters that were among the materials found at Mar-a-Lago before an FBI search last summer.
‘We have some great cards, some wonderful cards and some we deliver and some we don’t. I declassified, I had the power to declassify, do what I wanted to do in that regard as president,” Trump said. “But we have some great letters, but a lot of these letters were sent anyway.”
He said he kept in touch with “many” world leaders, but did not say which ones.
‘With some I have maintained a very good connection. I’ve had very good relationships, some very good relationships and you know, you don’t leave and never talk to someone again. And I’d probably let them name who it would be…but a lot of them,’ she said.
He mentioned that he received an award from Viktor Orban of Hungary. He backed the right-wing regime of the Hungarian prime minister last year.
Trump’s book includes letters from figures including Michael Jackson, Oprah Winfrey and Queen Elizabeth II.
The former president will include letters he received from presidents, royals including the late Princess Diana, world leaders, celebrities and business executives in his new book, called ‘Letters to Trump’ (pictured)
It does not include one from Fox News executive Rupert Murdoch, quoted in a. Statement and internal communications disclosed in Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit calling Trump ‘crazier and crazier’ and incredulous in his voter fraud claims. Opinion host Tucker Carlson appears in documents related to a court filing calling Trump’s post-election behavior “disgusting.”
Trump said that Fox News opinion anchors are “really good.”
‘I think they really like me and I think they agree… People should have a right to express their opinion, especially when they are presenters. And a lot of people when they look at the polls, a lot of people think that that election was rigged and stolen and I’m one of them.’
Trump continued: ‘I’m a denier. I am an election denier’, embracing the label.’
Trump predicted his book would do “very well” but later conceded that it may not outperform his first picture book, Journey Together.
‘And this is perhaps a step above or perhaps a step below. I guess we’ll see about that,’ she said.
Trump also expressed in the call good wishes to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who fell and hit his head Wednesday night at the Waldorf Astoria, the rebranded former Trump hotel in Washington DC.
Trump commented on McConnell, whom he has clashed with repeatedly since Jan. 6 and with whom he has not spoken in court, shortly after it was revealed that the powerful Republican leader suffered a concussion from his fall.
Trump was initially reticent when asked about the man who has become a major political nemesis. ‘No, I do not know. I heard it from several people, but I don’t know. I don’t know the severity of this at all,’ he said on a call with a handful of reporters to discuss his new book. Letters to Trump.
When asked for a statement, he responded: “Well, I don’t disagree with almost everything he does, but I do wish he would get right.” I want it to be okay. I want it to be okay. And then he comes back and be strong.
Trump continued: ‘It looks like it fell off quite a bit. And it looks like he took a big fall. And I hope he’s okay. I hope he gets better quickly. I wish him well. Looks like he took a big fall. It’s going to be fun. It will be, I hope he improves quickly.
McConnell denounced Trump as responsible for the riots at the Capitol after January 6. In the past, Trump has attacked McConnell online as “cocaine Mitch” and called his wife, former Trump cabinet member Elaine Chao, a “coco chow.”
In a fiery speech last week, Trump slammed McConnell as a “China-loving politician,” during remarks in which he told conservative activists: “I am his retribution.”
“Leader McConnell tripped at dinner Wednesday night and has been admitted to hospital and is being treated for a concussion,” his communications director David Popp said in a statement Thursday afternoon.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (pictured Tuesday) tripped and fell at a hotel on Wednesday and was hospitalized; he has a concussion and will be in the hospital for a ‘few days’
McConnell was attending a fundraiser for his leadership PAC at the Waldorf, formerly the Trump Hotel
The Waldorf Astoria, in the same historic federal building developed as a hotel by the Trump Organization, was a hive of Republican activity during the Trump administration.
He is expected to remain in the hospital for a few days of observation and treatment. The Leader thanks the medical professionals for their care and his colleagues for their warm wishes.’
McConnell, 81, was hosting a dinner for his Senate Leadership Fund at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in downtown Washington, DC when he was in the accident. The hotel hosted a variety of major Republican events when it was named after Trump while Trump was in the White House. The Trump Organization sold the lease on the property amid the pandemic after Trump left the White House, making a huge profit. Trump’s book contains letters from figures ranging from Barack Obama to Queen Elizabeth II to North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.