Number of times Trump praised Putin since Russia invaded Ukraine:
2 (So far)
Only hours before the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, former President Donald J. Trump again praised the cunning of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia while lashing out at the intellect of President Biden.
At a campaign rally in Georgia on Saturday, former President Donald Trump
once again praised Vladimir Putin's intelligence, calling the Russian president's decision to place troops on the border of Ukraine "a great negotiation."
“I mean he’s taking over a country for $2 worth of sanctions,” Mr. Trump said of Mr. Putin to donors and Republican lawmakers at Mar-a-Lago, his private club, on Wednesday. “I’d say that’s pretty smart.”
The kind words a former president gave a foreign adversary locked in a geopolitical showdown with the United States — and committing the most egregious act of aggression in Europe since World War II — would be virtually unprecedented, except that Mr. Trump himself
had praised Mr. Putin only a day earlier, saying his aggression was “genius” and “very savvy.”
Trump has doubled down on his remarks since February 24, when Russian forces entered Ukraine on three fronts.
"The smartest one gets to the top. That didn't work so well recently in our country," Trump said during the rally. "But they ask me, 'Is Putin smart?' Yes, Putin was smart.
At the annual Conservative Political Action Conference on February 28, Trump repeated his praise of Putin as a clever.
The entire family loves Putin.
Hannity and Trump’s eldest sons have offered their own commentary on the former president’s relationship to Putin.
Hannity said Trump’s praise of the Russian president was “taken out of context.” Donald Trump Jr. claimed his dad’s
affection for dictators was an act in order to “play these guys.” And Eric Trump
lauded his father’s “great relationship” with Putin.
‘Eric, who’s funding? I know no banks — because of the recession, the Great Recession — have touched a golf course. You know, no one’s funding any kind of golf construction. It’s dead in the water the last four or five years.’
‘Well, we don’t rely on American banks. We have all the funding we need out of Russia.’ I said, ‘Really?’ And he said, ‘Oh, yeah. We’ve got some guys that really, really love golf, and they’re really invested in our programs. We just go there all the time.’” Eric Trump.