Fox News caught editing out Trump’s brag that he would have let Putin “take over” parts of Ukraine

"I could’ve made a deal to take over something, there are certain areas that are Russian-speaking areas, frankly"

Published March 8, 2023 12:02PM (EST)

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) and US President Donald Trump shake hands before a meeting in Helsinki, on July 16, 2018. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) and US President Donald Trump shake hands before a meeting in Helsinki, on July 16, 2018. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

Fox News was caught editing out former President Donald Trump's boast that he would have negotiated an end to Russia's invasion of Ukraine by allowing the Kremlin to "take over" parts of the country.

Trump during a Monday radio interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity said that Russia "took over nothing" while he was in office but was going for the "whole enchilada" with President Joe Biden in the White House. Trump claimed that had he still been in office, Russian President Vladimir Putin "would have never done it."

"That's without even negotiating a deal. I could have negotiated," he said. "At worst, I could've made a deal to take over something, there are certain areas that are Russian-speaking areas, frankly, but you could've worked a deal."

But when Hannity aired his "exclusive" conversation with the former president on his Fox News show later that evening, Trump's comment about letting Putin "take over" parts of Ukraine was edited out, as flagged by The Daily Beast.

"I could have negotiated," Trump says in the clip, before the video fast-forwards to a different part of the interview in which Trump complained about China.


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The clips aired on Fox News also excluded Trump's conspiracy theory that "so many more people are dying than is being reported" in Ukraine while repeating that this "would have never happened" if he was still in office.

The former president has also said in an interview with the Right Side Broadcasting Network that peace "can be negotiated within 24 hours" by saying "things" that "will guarantee that this war will end immediately."


By Gabriella Ferrigine

Gabriella Ferrigine is a former staff writer at Salon. Originally from the Jersey Shore, she moved to New York City in 2016 to attend Columbia University, where she received her B.A. in English and M.A. in American Studies. Formerly a staff writer at NowThis News, she has an M.A. in Magazine Journalism from NYU and was previously a news fellow at Salon.

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Related Topics ------------------------------------------

Clip Donald Trump Politics Russia Ukraine Vladimir Putin