Trump calls Putin 'genius' and 'savvy' for Ukraine invasion

The former president's praise for Putin comes at a perilous geopolitical moment in Europe.

Trump calls Putin’s strategy ‘genius’

Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday described Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine as “genius” and “savvy,” praising his onetime counterpart for a move that has spurred sanctions and universal condemnation from the U.S. government and its trans-Atlantic allies.

“I went in yesterday and there was a television screen, and I said, ‘This is genius.’ Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine — of Ukraine — Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that’s wonderful,” Trump said in a radio interview with “The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show.” “He used the word ‘independent’ and ‘we’re gonna go out and we’re gonna go in and we’re gonna help keep peace.’ You gotta say that’s pretty savvy.”

Trump’s praise for the Russian president comes at a perilous geopolitical moment in Europe, where the Kremlin has amassed thousands of troops along the Ukrainian border. Already, Russian troops have invaded breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine that the Kremlin recognized as autonomous earlier this week. That recognition, as well as the subsequent invasion by Russian forces, prompted the U.S. and its allies in Europe to impose what President Joe Biden called “the first tranche” of sanctions against Moscow.

The comments from Trump also fit into a personal pattern of relatively warm rhetoric for Putin, especially compared to the abrasive approach that the former U.S. president employed in dealings with NATO and other U.S. allies. Trump repeatedly refused to accept the conclusion of the U.S. intelligence community that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election, at one point telling reporters at a joint press conference with Putin that he had accepted the Russian president’s assurance that the Kremlin had not been involved.

Trump’s 2016 campaign and its alleged ties to Russian interference efforts in that year’s presidential election were the subject of an investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller, a probe that Trump routinely derided as a “witch hunt.” Mueller’s report described numerous contacts between Trump’s campaign and agents or allies of the Russian government, including solicitations for assistance, but said the evidence was insufficient to conclude that Trump or his team coordinated with or conspired to support the Kremlin’s election interference effort.

Trump has long claimed that Mueller’s report exonerated him and his campaign, but Mueller, in remarks to the press about his report, emphasized that his team had not cleared Trump of wrongdoing and that “if we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so.” And Mueller repeatedly emphasized that his investigators were unable to access key sources of evidence and were inhibited by false testimony — some of which led to criminal charges, including against longtime Trump ally Roger Stone, who was ultimately pardoned by Trump just before facing jail time.

Trump, in his Tuesday radio interview, played up his relationship with Putin and said “I think nobody probably knows him better in terms of the discussions that we have or that we’re having this morning.”

“I knew that he always wanted Ukraine. I used to talk to him about it. I said, ‘You can’t do it. You’re not gonna do it.’ But I could see that he wanted it,” Trump said. “I knew Putin very well. I got along with him great. He liked me. I liked him. I mean, you know, he’s a tough cookie, got a lot of the great charm and a lot of pride. But the way he — and he loves his country, you know? He loves his country. He’s acting a little differently, I think now.”

Kyle Cheney contributed to this report.