Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Trump claims there would be low gas prices and no Russia war in Ukraine if not for ‘rigged’ election

‘The world would have had no problems whatsoever,’ claims former president

Oliver O'Connell
New York
Monday 28 February 2022 18:25 GMT
Comments
Donald Trump calls Putin ‘smart’ and American leaders ‘dumb’ during CPAC speech

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

In his latest Twitter missive, Donald Trump boldly claims “the world would have had no problems whatsoever” if the 2020 election had not been “rigged” and he were still president.

Posted by his spokesperson Liz Harrington, as the former president remains banned from Twitter, the statement mirrors many of the themes voiced at last week’s Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando.

Mr Trump says: “If my energy policy had remained in place, where we were energy independent, and would have soon been bigger in production than Saudi Arabia and Russia combined, the world would have had no problems whatsoever.”

He continues: “This war should never have started in the first place. If the election wasn’t Rigged, America would right now continue to have record-low gas prices, as it was under my Administration, and we would be supplying the world with oil and gas.

“Also, Russia would not have attacked Ukraine. Instead, we have a horribly tragic and unnecessary war, record-high energy prices, Inflation, no Border, crime, and chaos. Make America STRONG Again!”

The tweet received quick responses from Twitter users calling the statement “nonsense” and Mr Trump “just as delusional as Putin”.

One user quoted former US Ambassador Michael McFaul’s earlier tweet as is American politicians in 1939 called Hitler “savvy” as Mr Trump did last week.

Another posted a tweet from former FBI Assistant Director Frank Figliuzzi: “Correction: Putin invaded Ukraine because he believed Trump had weakened Nato, split the allies, and divided America.”

In an earlier tweet, the former president claimed that there would be no Nato if it wasn’t for him.

He said: “I hope everyone is able to remember that it was me, as President of the United States, that got delinquent Nato members to start paying their dues, which amounted to hundreds of billions of dollars. There would be no Nato if I didn’t act strongly and swiftly. Also, it was me that got Ukraine the very effective anti-tank busters (Javelins) when the previous Administration was sending blankets. Let History so note!”

“I would like you to do us a favor though because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it,” he said according to a transcript at the time and asked him to look into a conspiracy theory about the 2016 election and said he would like his then-Attorney General William Barr to call Mr Zelensky.

Mr Trump was later impeached by the House of Representatives for his attempt to extort the Ukrainian president, whom he now hails as a “brave man” for standing up to the Russian invasion.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in