WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump spoke heatedly in the presidential debate about wanting Russia's war in Ukraine to be over — but twice refused to directly answer a question about whether he wanted U.S. ally Ukraine to win.
Trump also falsely claimed Tuesday that the war had killed “millions” since Russia invaded Ukraine 2 1/2 years ago, while the United Nations says 11,700 civilian deaths have been verified. Trump also claimed without evidence that Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic opponent, had bungled a diplomatic mission just days before Russia launched the invasion.
Trump's comments are likely to heighten concern among Ukraine and its supporters that his return to the White House could push Ukraine into a losing peace deal with its stronger neighbor, Russia. Western-allied Ukraine depends on U.S. military and financial aid to keep up its fight against Russian forces, and it would have grave difficulty withstanding their attacks if the United States were to pull that support.
It's "a very simple question. Do you want Ukraine to win this war?” moderator David Muir of ABC News asked Trump, in the first of two times Trump was pressed for a direct answer.
“I want the war to stop,” Trump responded. “I want to save lives,” he added, going on to claim falsely that “millions” were dying in the conflict.
Muir then asked again, questioning whether Trump believed “it’s in the U.S. best interest for Ukraine to win this war.”
The Republican nominee responded, “I think it’s the U.S. best interest to get this war finished and just get it done.”
Trump has said repeatedly he would have a peace deal done between Ukraine and Russia within a day if he is elected, although he does not say how. The fear of Ukraine's supporters is that the kind of deal Trump is talking about would amount to the country's democratic government capitulating significant territory and sovereignty to Russia's harsh demands.
Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this year insisted Ukraine must give up vast amounts of territory and avoid joining NATO simply as a condition to start negotiations.
“The reason that Donald Trump says that this war would be over within 24 hours is because he would just give it up,” Harris said during the debate. She accused Trump of being in “what you think is a friendship with ... a dictator who would eat you for lunch.”
Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said Wednesday that “the name Putin is used, let’s say, as one of the tools in the domestic political struggle of the United States.” He added: “We really, really don’t like this and we still hope they will leave our president alone." Peskov suggested that both Harris and Trump have a “negative” and “unfriendly” attitude toward Russia.
Trump, however, has a long history of admiring comments about Putin, including calling his tactics in the 2022 invasion of Ukraine “genius” and “very savvy.” Trump expresses no such warmth for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, calling him a “salesman” for his appeals to allies for weapons.
The Biden administration says a victory in Ukraine would embolden Putin to move against other Western-allied democracies in Europe. President Joe Biden and his top officials were key players in rallying international support for Ukraine and sanctions against Russia since even before Russian forces rolled into Ukraine. The U.S. spurred allies into action by pointing to declassified intelligence showing Russian preparations for the invasion.
Just days before the invasion in late February 2022, Biden sent Harris to the annual Munich Security Conference in Germany, a high-profile mission to consolidate support for Ukraine among European and NATO leaders. Harris met on the sidelines with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Trump during the debate linked the timing of Harris' trip to Europe to Putin's sending troops into Ukraine days later.
“They sent her in to negotiate with Zelenskyy and Putin. And she did. And the war started three days later,” he said.
But the U.S. government said the Russian troops massing on Ukraine's border and intelligence assessments already pointed to an imminent invasion. And Putin was not at the security conference in Germany, and Harris didn't meet with him.
A view of the site of the damaged multi-storey residential building with the children's playground, foreground, following an alleged Ukrainian drone attack in Ramenskoye, outside Moscow, Moscow region, Russia, on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (AP Photo)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris participate during an ABC News presidential debate at the National Constitution Center, Tuesday, Sept.10, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
The presidential campaign is moving forward after another apparent attempt on Donald Trump 's life. Trump was safe after the incident in Florida and praised the Secret Service for protecting him but didn't shy away from blaming his opponents. The Republican nominee claimed without evidence that President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris ' comment that is a threat to democracy had inspired the attempt on Sunday.
The man suspected in the incident, Ryan Wesley Routh, camped outside the golf course in West Palm Beach with food and a rifle for nearly 12 hours, according to court documents filed Monday. Additional and more serious charges are possible as the investigation continues and prosecutors seek an indictment from a grand jury.
Trump is expected to travel to Michigan while Harris will speak at a Black journalists forum in Pennsylvania.
Here is the Latest:
The election director in Cobb County, an Atlanta suburb where votes will be fiercely contested in this year’s presidential race, recently organized a five-hour training session. The focus wasn’t solely on the nuts and bolts of running this year’s election. Instead, it brought together election staff and law enforcement to strategize on how to keep workers safe and the process of voting and ballot-counting secure.
Having a local sheriff’s deputy at early voting locations and panic buttons that connect poll managers to a local 911 dispatcher are among the added security steps the office is taking this year.
Tate Fall, Cobb County’s election director, said she was motivated to act after hearing one of her poll workers describe being confronted during the state’s presidential primary in March by an agitated voter who the worker noticed was carrying a gun. The situation ended peacefully, but the poll worker was shaken.
▶ Read more about what officials are doing across the country
Florida law enforcement will launch a state-level criminal probe of the apparent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday.
DeSantis told reporters that the “suspect is believed to (backslash)have committed state law violations.” DeSantis’ announcement comes a day after Ryan Routh was charged with federal firearms crimes.
Routh did not fire any shots, never had Trump in his line of sight and sped away after an agent who spotted him shot in his direction, officials said. He was arrested in a neighboring county.
Tuesday is National Voter Registration Day and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, are kicking off a week of action to encourage young voters in battleground states to sign up to vote in the Nov. 5 election.
Walz has events on Tuesday in Macon, Georgia, and Atlanta, followed by a rally in Asheville, North Carolina, while his wife, Gwen, appears in Las Vegas.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and actor Jane Fonda are among a group of high-profile Harris supporters who are set to participate in the registration drive.
More than 130 voter registration events will be held on college campuses — at basketball tournaments, football games and more — in the handful of states where Harris and Walz and the Republican presidential ticket of former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, are focusing their campaigns, the Harris-Walz campaign said.
The campaign will also have a presence at historically Black colleges and universities and Hispanic-serving institutions, including setting up kiosks to assist students with registration.
As he participated in an event on his X social media platform, Trump gave a shoutout to Elon Musk, saying the tech billionaire “endorsed me for president so strongly.”
Trump also called Musk his “friend,” commending his efforts on space travel in particular.
Musk deleted a post on X in which he said “no one is even trying to assassinate” Biden and Harris in the wake of the apparent assassination attempt on Trump.
Early Monday, after taking down the post about the apparent Trump assassination, Musk wrote on the platform: “Well, one lesson I’ve learned is that just because I say something to a group and they laugh doesn’t mean it’s going to be all that hilarious as a post on X.”
Musk, who has nearly 200 million followers on the social media site he bought for $44 billion in 2022, has increasingly embraced conservative ideologies in recent years and endorsed Trump for president.
Trump says the apparent attempt on his life was a “much better result” than when he was shot in July because no others were wounded or killed.
“That was some crazy day, and yesterday you had another one with a different result, actually much better result,” Trump said.
The host noted that some of Trump’s sons were in the room for the interview.
He and his friends playing golf “heard shots, being fired in the air, and I guess probably four or five.”
Trump said they got into carts “and we moved along pretty good.”
“I would have loved to have sank that last putt,” Trump said, of not being able to finish the round of golf.
Trump said an agent had seen a gun barrel “and started shooting in the bushes ... and ran toward the target.”
Trump also noted that a civilian woman in the area drove her vehicle to the back of Routh’s vehicle and took pictures of the license plate, which she then gave to authorities, who were able to track the suspect down.
Trump is participating in his first speaking appearance since the apparent assassination attempt on Sunday.
The former president is taking part in an X Space about the launch of World Liberty Financial, a crypto platform controlled by his sons Donald Jr. and Eric.
From his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida, Trump commended the Secret Service for doing an “excellent job.”
Farokh, the event’s host, began by applauding Trump for not canceling his appearance.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis delivers remarks and answers questions at a news conference Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis arrives for a news conference in the aftermath of the apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Jestin Nevarez, of Lake Worth, Fla., adjusts flags flying from his car as he shows support for Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump outside of Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, a day after an apparent assassination attempt, in Palm Beach, Fla., Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Ryan Wesley Routh takes part in a rally in central Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, April 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
In this image taken from police body camera video and released by the Martin County, Fla., Sheriff’s Office, law enforcement officers prepare to arrest Ryan Routh, the man suspected in the apparent assassination attempt of Donald Trump, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (Martin County Sheriff’s Office via AP)
In this imaged released by the Martin County, Fla., Sheriff’s Office, law enforcement officers arrest Ryan Routh, the man suspected in the apparent assassination attempt of Donald Trump, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (Martin County Sheriff’s Office via AP)
In this imaged released by the Martin County, Fla., Sheriff’s Office, law enforcement officers arrest Ryan Routh, the man suspected in the apparent assassination attempt of Donald Trump, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (Martin County Sheriff’s Office via AP)
A Coast Guard boat patrols the Lake Worth Lagoon in front of the Mar-a-Lago estate of Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump, one day after an apparent assassination attempt, in Palm Beach, Fla., Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
President Joe Biden, left, holds up the arm of Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, right, while on stage at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's Phoenix Awards Dinner in Washington, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at the Las Vegas Police Protective Association during a campaign stop, Saturday, Sept.14, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Election 2024 Latest: Trump and Harris resume campaigning after apparent assassination attempt
Election 2024 Latest: Trump and Harris resume campaigning after apparent assassination attempt
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives at Harry Reid International Airport to board a plane after a campaign trip, Saturday, Sept.14, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
