Donald Trump lashed out at the media and Republican 'warmongers' in an angry statement on Tuesday for 'misrepresenting' his comments calling Russian President Vladimir Putin a 'genius' for invading Ukraine.
The former president blamed 'Biden, NATO, and the West' for Moscow's unprovoked attack on its neighbor and accused them of doing nothing while Putin declared two breakaway separatist regions of Ukraine to be independent republics, which then allowed their pro-Russia leaders to invite the Kremlin's troops.
It comes as reports indicate President Joe Biden will close United States airspace to Russian planes as the latest punitive measure against Putin during his State of the Union speech Tuesday night.
'The RINOs, Warmongers, and Fake News continue to blatantly lie and misrepresent my remarks on Putin because they know this terrible war being waged against Ukraine would have never happened under my watch,' Trump said.
'They did absolutely nothing as Putin declared much of Ukraine an “independent territory.” There should be no war waging now in Ukraine, and it is terrible for humanity that Biden, NATO, and the West have failed so terribly in allowing it to start.'
Trump claimed Biden's environmental measures over the last year were to blame for Russia's decades-old position as a top oil and gas exporter.
Trump took aim at 'Biden, NATO and the West' and blamed the US and its allies for allowing Putin's invasion of Ukraine
Civilians train to throw Molotov cocktails to defend the city, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, in Zhytomyr, Ukraine March 1. Putin personally gave Kremlin troops the order to invade late last week
Pro-Russian separatists, in uniforms without insignia, gather in the separatist region of Donetsk region
Russian forces shelled Ukraine's second-largest city of Kharkiv on Monday, which reportedly killed three children among others
Fire engines are pictured during the response effort to the shelling of Russian invaders outside the Kharkiv Regional State Administration building in Freedom Square on March 1
He also appeared to reference the president's June 2021 comments in which Biden claimed the Pentagon told him in 2009 that climate change is 'the greatest threat facing America,' which he still believed.
'Instead of showing strength and toughness, they declared the Global Warming Hoax as the #1 threat to global security, killed American Energy Independence, and then made Europe, the U.S., and the rest of the World dependent on Russian oil,' Trump said.
'They laid down the welcome mat and gave Russia the opening, now Putin may be getting everything he wanted, with Ukraine and the rest of the World suffering the consequences.
'It’s terrible, but this is what you get with Biden, the Democrats, and RINO warmongers!'
'RINO' refers to Republican In Name Only, a nickname Trump frequently invokes for his right-wing critics.
The former president stirred outrage across the political spectrum late last week when he praised Russia's authoritarian leader's unprovoked attack on Ukraine as 'genius' and said his plan of designating two separatist breakaway areas as 'independent' was 'pretty savvy.'
'Putin is now saying, "It’s independent," a large section of Ukraine. I said, "How smart is that?"' Trump said on The Clay Travis
