Leaked audio reveals Donald Trump's explicit threat to Putin's Russia during private meeting
A damning audio recording has been released in which Donald Trump can allegedly be heard claiming he once threatened to 'bomb the s**t out of Moscow'.
The assertion was reportedly made by Trump during a private fundraising event in 2024.
Chatting to a group of charitable donors, the 79-year-old was discussing political relations with Vladimir Putin, specifically the invasion of neighbouring Ukraine that his European counterpart instructed two years prior.
According to a number of news outlets, including The Mail and The Telegraph, Trump alleged during last year's get-together that the war wouldn't have broken out in the area if he'd been sitting in the Oval Office in 2022.
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In the audio recording, Trump can reportedly be heard commenting on the matter, claiming he'd previously issued Putin with a severe warning against a full-scale Russian-Ukraine conflict.
"With Putin I said, 'If you go into Ukraine, I’m going to bomb the s**t out of Moscow. I'm telling you I have no choice'," he began his rant.
Telling fundraiser attendees, the Republican claimed Putin, 72, replied, 'I don't believe you, no way', to which Trump allegedly replied, 'Way'.
During a campaign trail appearance in October of last year, Trump claimed to have handed the Russian the same threat.
"'I’m going to hit you right in the middle of fricking Moscow'," he insisted he'd said to Putin.
"I said, 'We’re friends. I don’t want to do it, but I have no choice'."
Later on during the newly-discovered recording, he also claimed to have given a similar warning to Xi Jinping, the president of China, if he chose to invade Taiwan in the near future.
Trump continued: "I said the same thing to them, I said, 'If you go into Taiwan I'm going to bomb the s**t out of Beijing'.
"He thought I was crazy. He said, 'Beijing! You can't even bomb [inaudible]'. I said, 'I have no choice'."
He added: "He believed me 10 percent... and we never had a problem."
The recording was obtained by a team of journalists consisting of Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager and Isaac Arnsdorf, who shared their findings with CNN. The exchanges have also been published in their new written work, 2024.
The leaked recorded comes just days after Trump shunned Putin for allegedly 'throwing bulls**t' at him during recent negotiations about Ukraine.
Accusing the Russian of issuing 'meaningless' statements by launching a number of major strikes on the considerably smaller country after promising peace, the president admitted he was 'not happy'.
"I can tell you that much right now, because he’s killing a lot of people," Trump declared during a cabinet meeting.
"We get a lot of bulls**t thrown at us by Putin. You want to know the truth. He is very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless."
Asked about imposing fresh sanctions onto the Russian capital, he went on to confess: "I’m looking at it very strongly."
Tyla contacted The White House for comment.
Topics: Donald Trump, US News, Politics, News, World News
Rhianna Benson