Trump Calls Putin a ‘Stone Cold Murderer,’ But Says He Has ‘No Message’ for Russian Leader When Asked

With Russia continuing its military onslaught against Ukraine, former President Donald Trump refused to give an outright condemnation of Vladimir Putin for his international hostilities.

Trump gave an interview to Fox News shortly before speaking at the 2022 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Saturday, in which he warned the Ukrainian conflict “could lead to much bigger [things] than this one area. This could lead to a lot of other countries and could lead to world war.

“You never know how it starts. You never think a war is going to come out of it,” said Trump. “All of a sudden, you end up in a world war. This is a very dangerous period for our nation, for the country.”

Trump continued by dismissing the sanctions that have been utilized against Russia, but declined to say what he would’ve done differently if he were still in office. Of Putin and China’s Xi Jinping, Trump said “these people, there’s something wrong with them. Perhaps they’re sick, perhaps they’re deranged, but when you look at what they do, and it’s the case where you have not only Putin, you have other people that are stone-cold murderers and thugs and dictators that are very dangerous levels that they’re on, that the president of the United States and other people are not allowed to be on. It’s a disgrace.”

Asked if he had a message for Putin, Trump answered “I have no message. I just think it’s a shame that this is going on. It’s something that should not be going on.” He also refused to say if he has spoken with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

In the speech Trump gave after the interview, the former president (once again) called Putin “smart” while trashing the Biden administration, NATO, and the “stupid country” America supposedly became after his presidency came to an end. Much of his speech was devoted to blasting his political foes and blaming them for allowing the situation in Ukraine to unfold.

“They so far allowed him to get away with this travesty, an assault on humanity,” Trump said. “That’s what it is. This is an assault on humanity. So sad.”

Watch above, via Fox News.