Donald Trump sparked backlash on Monday for defending Russian President Vladimir Putin during remarks at the G-7 summit in Kananaskis, Alberta.
The U.S. president complained to reporters, in front of fellow world leaders, about Russia’s absence from the group of leading industrialized nations, after it was expelled in 2014 following its annexation of Crimea.
“The G-7 used to be the G-8,” Trump began. “[Former U.S. President] Barack Obama and a person named Trudeau didn’t want to have Russia in and I would say that that was a mistake because I think you wouldn’t have a war right now if you had Russia in and you wouldn’t have a war right now if Trump were president four years ago.”
Note: Justin Trudeau was not actually Canada’s leader at the time Russia was removed from the group. Conservative Stephen Harper was in power until 2015.
Trump continued: “But it didn’t work out that way. But it used to be the G-8 and now it’s, I think it’s, what’s that, nine years ago, eight years ago, they switched over, they threw Russia out, which I claimed was a very big mistake, even though I wasn’t in politics then, I was very loud about it that it was a mistake in that you spend so must time talking about Russia and he’s no longer at the table so it makes life more complicated, but you wouldn’t have had the war. But other than that, I think we’re going to accomplish a lot.”
Critics slammed Trump’s comments as yet another time he has sided with Putin amid Russia’s ongoing attempted invasion of Ukraine. They also fact-checked his claim about there being “no war” when he was in office.
