Donald Trump claimed President Joe Biden “convinced” Russian President Vladimir Putin to “go into Ukraine” in a mini campaign speech to a Mar-a-Lago audience over the weekend.
He falsely insisted that Biden encouraged Putin’s aggression when he said it would be “no problem” if Putin took “some parts of Ukraine.”
Biden sought a peaceful solution to Russia’s warmongering, and condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It was Trump who called Putin’s invasion “genius” at the time.
Trump also revealed at the Mar-a-Lago event reportedly linked to the Conservative Political Action Conference that he had to invite professors to the White House to explain to him him how horrible a nuclear war would be if it came up in the presidential debates.
“The power is so destructive that we won’t talk about it,” he said. Trump claimed the experts urged him: “Sir, do the best you can to not talk about it … It’s so destructive, it’s so powerful. The world will be gone,” he added as he indicated Biden is increasing the risk of a nuclear war because he has “no mind left.”
The former president, speaking from a podium, also insisted that a “lunatic” fatally shot Capitol rioter Ashli Babbitt during the Jan. 6 violence in 2021.
“There was no reason” for it, said Trump. “We’re not going to let this go on. These are people are horrible, horrible people,” he added, apparently referring to police protecting lawmakers that day. “What they’ve done to protesters …”
Micki Witthoeft, the mother of Ashli Babbitt, was arrested after blocking traffic in a protest on Capitol grounds on Friday, police said. She ignored orders to move and instead “turned around with her hands behind her back and asked to be arrested,” said a statement from the Capitol police.
Ashli Babbitt, a Trump supporter, was shot by a police officer during the insurrection as she was climbing through a smashed window in the Capitol amid a violent mob trying to reach lawmakers during the riot as part of a bid to overthrow the presidential election. (See the video below).
The Justice Department investigated Babbitt’s shooting and, based on the evidence, did not pursue any criminal prosecution of the Capitol police officer who shot her.
Trump yet again insisted that the Capitol rioters were merely “protesting a dishonest election,” though there’s no evidence the vote was dishonest.
Nearly 1,000 rioters have been arrested and charged or already convicted of several crimes in the Jan. 6 riot, including trespass, theft and destruction of government property, assault and sedition.
Frequent Mar-a-Lago visitor Kari Lakeappeared at the event with Trump. She is baselessly calling herself the “duly elected governor” of Arizona, even though she lost the gubernatorial election to Democrat Katie Hobbs in November.
A columnist for the Arizona Republic wrote Saturday that while Lake could possibly be the governor of fantasy Neverland, Narnia, Middle Earth, Oz or Wonderland, she is definitely not the governor of Arizona.
Trump has pretty much hunkered down at Mar-a-Lago even though he announced in mid-November that he’s running for the presidency again. He’s surrounded by sycophants at his resort, which one Trump confidant recently referred to as a kind of “Barbie Dream House” where Trump can still pretend he’s president.
