Donald Trump has said that he would pay less attention to the media if he were re-elected to the presidency, as he blamed Joe Biden a...
Donald Trump has said that he would pay less attention to the media if he were re-elected to the presidency, as he blamed Joe Biden and Barack Obama for forging a dangerous alliance between Russia and China - and claimed he himself had been more persecuted than 'Al Capone, Jesse James, and Billy the Kid put together.'
The former president spoke to Fox News' Sean Hannity on Wednesday night during a 40-minute interview, ranging over Ukraine, energy policy and inflation.
He said Obama and Biden had made big mistakes with Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, accusing them of having 'drove those two big monsters together.'
Trump, who says he is still weighing whether to run in 2024, was asked by his friend Hannity what he would do differently if he wins a second term.
'I think one of the things I would do differently is that I found the media is so corrupt, that I would really not focus on them almost at all - I just focus on getting the job done for the American people,' he said.
Donald Trump on Wednesday night spoke to Fox News anchor Sean Hannity
Trump blamed Joe Biden, seen on Tuesday, for inflation - saying his energy policy was a disaster
'You cater to the media, you deal with the media. They're very dishonest, they write the opposite things, they have sources that aren't sources. They're an unbelievably dishonest - hence the name fake news.
'I think really I would be focused on getting the job done, getting our country back - our country has never been in a position that it is right now, with disrespected all over the world.'
Bitter about the reporting on his presidency, Trump said he had been cheated by the media - accusing them of failing to report on Hunter Biden's business dealings, and obsessing instead about the 'Russia, Russia, Russia hoax'.
He was also angered by the law suits filed against him.
'I've gone through, in five years, more investigations than Al Capone, Jesse James, and Billy the Kid put together,' he told a laughing Hannity.
'If I fly over a Democrat state in my airplane, I end up before a grand jury.
'It's a disgrace, and the people of this country aren't going to take it.
'They have weaponized law enforcement, essentially.'
He lashed out at his former attorney general, Bill Barr, for being afraid of impeachment, and said he told Barr not to worry because impeachment had helped his own ratings.
Trump is pictured on April 9 at a rally in Selma, North Carolina. He is still weighing up whether to run for office again
Turning to Ukraine, Trump stressed that he had strengthened NATO by making other members pay their fair share, and said he warned Angela Merkel, the German former chancellor, against relying too much on Russia for their oil.
'Don't forget, I rebuilt NATO,' he said.
'Because when I became president, the first thing I noticed when I went there to the first meeting was that most of the countries were not paying - they were paying far less than they were supposed to.'
He also emphasized his defense spending, and his policy of energy independence - mocking Joe Biden for his promotion of green energy, and insisting it was insufficient for America's needs.
'They don't have the power to fuel our great factories and to build our great businesses,' he said, before returning to his oft-repeated warning that wind turbines killed eagles.
'Today I saw a big story that there are millions and millions of dollars that are being charged on windmills because they are killing eagles.
'They are killing the bald eagle and other eagles and other birds and we have these windmills all over the place and the environmentalists pretend they love them, but they are really hurting our country.
'Driving down values, absolutely killing us.
'One of the most expensive forms of energy.
'The turbines are all made in China or Germany, so they get the advantage of that.
'It is ridiculous.
'But the real problem is that if you go green, you don't have the power to fuel our great factories, manufacturing plants, and all of the things that we do and that we are known for.'
Trump and Hannity discussed inflation and rising energy costs, with Trump blaming Biden's promotion of green energy
Vladimir Putin, pictured on April 13. Trump said he would never have invaded Ukraine if he were still in power
Trump said Biden had pushed Xi Jinping (pictured on April 8) closer to Putin
The 75-year-old, who on February 22 described Putin's invasion of Ukraine as 'genius' - remarks that drew condemnation from Republicans such as Lindsey Graham - told Hannity that he now thought the war was 'horrible'.
Hannity did not ask him about his previous description of the conflict, but Trump told him it was 'so sad when you see tens of thousands of people dying.'
He referred to it as a 'genocide' - echoing Biden's declaration on Monday.
Trump resumed his familiar refrain that it would never have happened were he still president.
'I knew Putin very well,' said Trump.
'We talked about it. We talked about it a lot.
'He did want to Ukraine, but I said, you are not going into Ukraine.
'He would never ever have gone into Ukraine.'
He added that China's president, Xi Jinping, would have equally been dissuaded from attempting a military takeover of Taiwan, which Beijing considers part of its territory.
'President Xi of China would never have even thought about going into Taiwan,' said Trump.
'Not during the Trump administration.'
Asked which country - China or Russia - posed the biggest threat, Trump wavered, saying that both posed threats in different ways.
But he was unequivocal in blaming Barack Obama and Biden for driving Putin and Xi closer together.
'What Obama and Biden did: they did the all-time worst thing that could happen,' he said.
'They drove, because of energy and other reasons, and stupidity, they drove Russia and China together.
'That is something that never could have happened.
'Because they did the all-time worst thing. They drove those two big monsters together.'
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