Trump described the conversation to anchor Bret Baier, stating that he told Putin an invasion would be a "catastrophe," and that there would be "hell to pay."
"I thought he might do it," Trump continued. "Look, I talked to him. I said, 'If you do it, there's going to be hell to pay. It's going to be a catastrophe. Don't do it.'"
Trump claimed that Putin initially did not believe him, but he pushed back: "I told him I was going to do something. He said, ‘No, no, no, you will not do that.’ I said, 'I will, Vladimir, I will do it. I'm going to do it.'"
Trump, also a 2024 presidential candidate, said Putin believed "maybe 10%" of what he was saying but that 10% was "all you needed" to stop the invasion from happening. "It was only after I left [office] that you started hearing about this," he added.
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When asked whether he thought Ukraine was separate from Russia, Trump stated it was, but that it used to be one country, and "Putin liked it that way."
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As for the current conflict, the presidential candidate said he would not weigh in on what might be involved in a negotiation between the two countries – such as Russia keeping control of Crimea – as it would "impede a negotiation."
However, he said he could negotiate a resolution "within 24 hours."
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"But I'm telling you, within 24 hours – that's what I did. I became very rich by doing deals. Very rich. And you know what? Much more so than people even understand. And that's what I do," Trump said.
"I would have a deal done in 24 hours from the time we started. And I would tell Zelenskyy something and I would tell Putin something, and I'd get him into a room, and I'd tell him again, and again," Trump said.
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He added: "I would have a deal done very quickly. And you know what? The death would stop, and the destruction would stop because, look, Ukraine has been wiped out."
Russia's current invasion of Ukraine has lasted more than 480 days.
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