Trump discusses Melania’s role in persuading him to deal with Putin differently

As pressure was placed on the Kremlin to come to a peace agreement, President Donald Trump recounted the first lady’s involvement in shining a light on Russia’s leader.

(Video Credit: Fox 29 Philadelphia)

Contrary to the rapid de-escalation of the 12-Day War between Israel and Iran that included the president’s decisive strike against the Islamist regime’s nuclear facilities, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has passed 40 months. In attempting to restore order following his predecessor’s failure to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump revealed how First Lady Melania Trump often responds after the world leaders speak on the phone.

During an Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, the president made note of the open line of communication between Washington, D.C., and Moscow in hashing out negotiations before remarking, “I go home. I tell the first lady, ‘You know, I spoke to Vladimir today. We had a wonderful conversation.’ She said, ‘Oh, really? Another city was just hit.’”

Later, during a gathering at the White House Faith Office Luncheon, Trump reiterated the point when he expressed, “There’s times I’d get home. I’d say, ‘First lady, I had the most wonderful talk with Vladimir. I think we’re finished.’ And then I’ll turn on the television, or she’ll say to me one more time, ‘Wow, that’s strange because they just bombed a nursing home.’”

“I’d say, ‘What?’” added the commander-in-chief.

Details on the first lady’s role in reminding the president about the contradiction between what Putin says and what Putin does came as Trump gave the Russian president 50 days to arrive at a peace deal with Ukraine or face a 100% tariff on goods.

Additionally, as the chief executive announced that the next round of weapons being sent to Ukraine would reportedly be paid for by NATO, Congress was hashing out a bill to give the president clearance to implement a 500% tariff on Russian gas, oil, and uranium in addition to further economic sanctions.

“We are very unhappy, I am, with Russia,” Trump said in the Oval Office. “It wasn’t my war, it was Biden’s war. I’m trying to get you out of it. We want to see it end, and I’m disappointed in President Putin because I thought we would have a deal two months ago.”

Speaking on behalf of the European allies, Rutte said during the meeting, “This is again European nations standing up. I’ve been in contact with many countries. I can tell you at this moment Germany, massively, but also Finland, and Denmark, and Sweden and Norway — we have the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Canada — they all want to be part of this.”

Boiling down decades of Putin’s actions on the world stage, Trump spoke of his presidential peers when he added, “I don’t want to say he’s an assassin, but he’s a tough guy. It’s been proven over the years. He’s fooled a lot of people. He fooled Bush; he fooled a lot of people. He fooled Clinton, Bush, Obama, Biden. He didn’t fool me.”