In a speech to a Mar-a-Lago group over the weekend, Donald Trump said that President Joe Biden “convinced” Russian President Vladimir Putin to “go into Ukraine.”
Trump said, without providing proof, that Biden assured Putin it would be “no problem” if Russia took “some parts of Ukraine” in the February 2022 invasion.
Biden, on the other hand, sought a peaceful solution to Russia’s belligerence and denounced the invasion. Trump referred to Putin’s invasion as “genius” at the time.
According to Yahoo reports, the Mar-a-Lago event was a mini-campaign address for the Conservative Political Action Conference. Trump reportedly informed his audience that he had invited experts to the White House to discuss the dangers of nuclear weapons 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.” Trump claimed Biden is increasing the risk of nuclear war because he has “no mind left.”
Speaking from a stage, the former president also asserted that a “lunatic” fatally shot Capitol rioter Ashli Babbitt during the Jan. 6, 2021 rioting. “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 …”
During the insurrection, Babbitt, a Trump supporter, was shot by a police officer while climbing through a damaged window in the Capitol as a violent mob sought to approach lawmakers in their quest to overthrow Trump’s defeat.
The Justice Department looked into Babbitt’s shooting but decided not to charge the Capitol police officer who shot her. Trump asserted once more that the protesters were simply “protesting a dishonest election.” There is no proof that the vote was manipulated.
In the aftermath of the Jan. 6 violence, almost 1,000 rioters have been accused or convicted. The Justice Department is still looking into the matter. Micki Witthoeft, Ashli Babbitt’s mother, was detained after stopping traffic in a protest on Capitol grounds on Friday, according to police. She ignored instructions to move and instead “turned around with her hands behind her back and asked to be arrested,” according to Capitol police.
Kari Lake, a frequent Mar-a-Lago visitor, attended the event with Trump. She has falsely claimed to be Arizona’s “duly elected governor,” despite losing the gubernatorial race to Democrat Katie Hobbs in November.
Trump has mostly been hunkered down at Mar-a-Lago, despite his announcement in mid-November that he will run for president again. He’s surrounded by sycophants at his property, which one Trump confidant recently described as a “Barbie Dream House” where Trump can pretend to be president.
