Former President Donald Trump continued his charade of publicly supporting Russian President Vladamir Putin during his recent Fox news appearance.
On Wednesday, April 14, Trump appeared on Fox News with conservative host Sean Hannity. As the network shared images of body bags sprawled on the ground in Ukraine following Russia's invasion, the former president said, "I knew Putin very well. Almost as well as I know you, Sean."
He continued, "I will tell you, we talked about it, we talked about it a lot, he did want Ukraine, but I said, 'You're not going into Ukraine.' He would never, ever have gone into Ukraine."
Later in the segment, Hannity asked the former president if he would denounce Putin and if he believes the Russian authoritarian's actions are "evil."
"I asked you the last time you were on, whether you think that this is evil in our time," Hannity said. "Do you believe this is evil in our time?"
Instead of offering a direct answer to Hannity's question, Trump simply pivoted into a distorted rant about the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). "Don't forget, I rebuilt NATO," Trump falsely claimed.
Trump: I knew Putin very well. Almost as well as I know you Sean. pic.twitter.com/Ch0Lvytj7N
— Acyn (@Acyn) April 14, 2022
However, Trump did manage to echo President Joe Biden's remarks as he described the unrest as "genocide." The former president's latest interview with Hannity comes just one month after he faced backlash for his last appearance on the Fox News broadcast. At the time, Hannity asked a similar question about Trump's stance on Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The former president faced backlash for his response after describing Putin's strategy as "genius." However, according to HuffPost, Hannity and Trump's oldest sons, Donald Jr., and Eric, have made attempts to downplay the context of the remarks.
Per HuffPost:
"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 and claimed that if he was still running the country, he would have simply called Putin and said, 'Vladimir, don't even think about' invading Ukraine."
