CLAIM: President Joe Biden claimed during the State of the Union address on Thursday that former President Donald Trump told Russian President Vladimir Putin, “Do whatever the hell you want.”
VERDICT: FALSE. Trump has never told Putin, “Do whatever the hell you want.”
During the State of the Union address, Biden stated:
Now, my predecessor, a former Republican President, tells Putin, ‘Do whatever the hell you want.’
A former American President actually said that, bowing down to a Russian leader.
It’s outrageous. It’s dangerous. It’s unacceptable.
Biden was paraphrasing a story that Trump told at a campaign rally in South Carolina on February 10, where he was asked a hypothetical question and he gave a hypothetical answer.
Trump was telling the crowd about a private conversation he had with then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel — the leader of the country with the largest economy in Europe — about Germany not meeting its obligation as a NATO member to spend at least two percent of its GDP on defense.
According to Trump, Merkel had asked him if the U.S. would still defend Germany if it was invaded by Russia but they did not meet their obligation.
Trump said he told her, “No, I would not protect you…In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. You got to pay. You got to pay your bills.”
Despite the conversation being hypothetical and in line with Trump’s pressure on NATO members to meet their defense spending obligations while he was president, Biden, Democrats and the media have repeatedly misrepresented his remarks.
Biden claimed at a press conference last month that Trump had given “an invitation” for Putin to invade:
The former President has set a dangerous and shockingly, frankly, un-American signal to the world. Just a few days ago, Trump gave an invitation to Putin to invade some of our Ally — NATO Allies. He said if an ally didn’t spend enough money on defense, he would encourage Russia to, quote, ‘do whatever the hell they want,’ end of quote.’
Can you imagine a former President of the United States saying that? The whole world heard it. And the worst thing is he means it. No other president in our history has ever bowed down to a Russian dictator. Well, let me say this as clearly as I can: I never will. For God’s sake, it’s dumb, it’s shameful, it’s dangerous, it’s un-American.
Ironically, the last three times that Putin invaded any country were during the Biden, Obama, and George W. Bush administrations, and not during Trump’s administration.
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