In an extensive interview with TIME Magazine’s Senior Political Correspondent Eric Cortellessa and Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs, Donald Trump says he was joking when he promised on the campaign trail that he would end the Russian invasion of Ukraine “on Day One.”
In probing new interview, @TIME pressed @POTUS about his campaign promise to end Russia/Ukraine war “on day one”
Trump now says that claim – made at nearly every rally – was made “in jest.” pic.twitter.com/EPyzx8mQkH
— Garrett Haake (@GarrettHaake) April 25, 2025
Here’s the transcript regarding Trump’s campaign promise to end the Russia/Ukraine war:
TIME: You said you would end the war in Ukraine on Day One.
Trump: Well, I said that figuratively, and I said that as an exaggeration, because to make a point, and you know, it gets, of course, by the fake news [unintelligible]. Obviously, people know that when I said that, it was said in jest, but it was also said that it will be ended.
TIME: Well what’s taking so long? When do you think it will be ended?
Trump: Well, I don’t think it’s long. I mean, look, I got here three months ago. This war has been going on for three years. It’s a war that would have never happened if I was president. It’s Biden’s war. It’s not my war. I have nothing to do with it. I would have never had this war. This war would have never happened. Putin would have never done it. This war would have never happened. Oct. 6 would have never happened. Oct. 7 would have never happened. Would have never happened. Ever. You then say, what’s taking so long? Do you hear this, Steve? The war has been raging for three years. I just got here, and you say, what’s taken so long?
Trump says he was misled by senior aides on what the 9-0 Abrego Garcia Supreme Court ruling actually meant pic.twitter.com/j6KzVSoPYU
— FactPost (@factpostnews) April 25, 2025
On the subject of wrongly deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia, Trump said “his people” interpreted the Supreme Court’s order to facilitate the return of Abrego Garcia from El Salvador differently than legal experts.
TIME: The Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that you have to bring back Kilmar Abrego Garcia. You haven’t done so. Aren’t you disobeying the Supreme Court?
Trump: Well, that’s not what my people told me—they didn’t say it was, they said it was—the nine to nothing was something entirely different.
TIME: Let me quote from the ruling. “The order properly requires the government to facilitate Aboriginal Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador.” Are you facilitating a release?
Trump: I leave that to my lawyers. I give them no instructions. They feel that the order said something very much different from what you’re saying. But I leave that to my lawyers. If they want—and that would be the Attorney General of the United States and the people that represent the country. I don’t make that decision.
TIME: Have you asked President Bukele to return him?
Trump: I haven’t, uh, he said he wouldn’t.
TIME: Did you ask him?
Trump: But I haven’t asked him positively, but he said he wouldn’t.
TIME: But if you haven’t asked him, then how are you facilitating his release?
Trump: Well, because I haven’t been asked to ask him by my attorneys. Nobody asked me to ask him that question, except you.
Read the full transcript of the TIME Magazine interview here.
TIME’s new cover: Donald Trump on his first 100 days https://t.co/sqsFwNucTd pic.twitter.com/7ckUDm0tZK
— TIME (@TIME) April 25, 2025
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