President Donald Trump called out the "fresh mouth" of a Russian official for invoking the "ultimate threat" of nuclear weapons, telling Newsmax on Friday that as a result, he ordered two nuclear submarines "closer to Russia."
In an exclusive interview with "Finnerty" host Rob Finnerty at the White House, Trump said his "eyes light up" when nuclear weapons are mentioned, in this case by Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chair of the Security Council of Russia.
"Well, a former president of Russia who's now in charge of one of the most important councils, Medvedev, said some things that were very bad, talking about nuclear. And when you mention the word 'nuclear,' you know, my eyes light up and I say, 'We better be careful,' because it's the ultimate threat," Trump said.
Medvedev, in a post on Telegram, Thursday, cautioned Trump to keep in mind "his favorite films about the 'walking dead'" and referred to the Soviet Union's system for launching a last-ditch, automatic nuclear strike.
"He shouldn't have said it. He's got a fresh mouth. He's said things in the past, too. And so we always want to be ready. And so I have sent to the region two nuclear submarines. I just want to make sure that his words are only words and nothing more than that," Trump said.
He was asked if the submarines are closer to Russia.
"They're closer to Russia. Yeah, they're closer to Russia," Trump answered.
Trump continued to decry the "terrible situation" of Russia's war in Ukraine.
"This is [former President Joe] Biden's war. This is not my war. This war would have never happened. It didn't happen for four years. It was never even talked about other than anything I had conversations with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin," Trump said. "It was the apple of his eye, but he wasn't going to go into Ukraine. And I will say this, that's a war that should end. That's a terrible war."
Trump's new deadline on Russia to broker a ceasefire with Russia is Aug. 8.
He said that if a deal is not in place, "we'll put sanctions on, and he's pretty good with sanctions. He knows how to avoid sanctions."
Trump came into the presidency with a top goal of ending the war, which he thought he had nailed down with Putin three different times.
"I talked to Putin a lot, and I think we had a great conversation. Then I go home and I see that a bomb was dropped in Kyiv and some of the various cities, killing people. I say, you know, I just had this great conversation with him, and it looked like we were going to — I thought we had it worked out three different times, and maybe he wants to try and take the whole thing. I think it's going to be very hard for him," he said.
Trump was asked if his opinion of Putin has changed over the past few months.
"He's obviously a tough cookie, so it hasn't changed in that way. But I'm surprised. We had numerous good conversations where we could have ended this thing, and all of a sudden bombs start flying," Trump said.
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Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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