Donald Trump Thought US Troops Were in Ukraine in 2017: Book
Category: News & Politics
Via: john-russell • 3 years ago • 36 commentsBy: Alia Shoaib (Business Insider)
- Donald Trump asked if US troops were in Ukraine in 2017 at a meeting with then-President Poroshenko.
- The revelation was made in a new book by former US ambassador Marie Yovanovitch.
- "It was disconcerting that he did not seem to know where we had our troops deployed," she wrote.
President Donald Trump asked whether US troops were in Ukraine during an Oval Office meeting with then Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko in 2017, according to a new book by former US ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, seen by The Guardian.
At the meeting, Trump asked his national security adviser HR McMaster if US troops were in Donbas, a territory in Ukraine claimed by Russian-backed separatists.
"An affirmative answer to that question would have meant that the United States was in a shooting war with Russia," Yovanovitch wrote in the book, according to The Guardian.
"It was disconcerting that he did not seem to know where we had our troops - his troops - deployed. I could only imagine what the Ukrainians were thinking."
In the same meeting, Trump also told Poroshenko that Ukraine "was a corrupt country, which he knew because a Ukrainian friend at Mar-a-Lago had told him," Yovanovitch wrote in the book, according to The Guardian.
She also claims Trump said, "Crimea was Russian, as the locals spoke Russian."
Russia invaded and annexed the Ukrainian peninsula Crimea in 2014 in a move widely condemned by the international community.
Yovanovitch said that others in the meeting "kept a poker face on" as then-President Trump made the cringe-worthy comments.
The former ambassador describes the meeting in her upcoming book, "Lessons from the Edge: A Memoir."
She served as US ambassador to Ukraine until she was removed from her post by Trump in 2019, amid his attempts to pressure Ukraine to investigate his political rival Joe Biden by withholding military aid. The scandal ultimately led to Trump's second impeachment.
Yovanovitch writes in the book that she had the impression that "Trump had come into the meeting viewing Ukraine as a 'loser' country, smaller and weaker than Russia."
She added that "Trump's obsequiousness toward [Russian President Vladimir] Putin was a frequent and continuing cause for concern."
However, she wrote that Trump was surprised by Poroshenko, who was "as physically imposing as Trump" and "a billionaire businessman."
The revelations from Yovanovitch's book come weeks after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a military invasion of Ukraine.
In recent weeks, Trump has continued to praise Putin for being "smart" and described his justification for invading Ukraine as "savvy" and "genius."
There is a seemingly endless supply of anecdotes like this about Trump. How did such a clueless person become president of the United States?
Imagine if Joe Biden, or god forbid, Kamala Harris, had asked the president of Poland if the US had troops in Poland. We would never hear the end of it from the right.
Or, just imagine that Obama offered Putin the bribe of a luxury penthouse in a secret deal to enrich himself personally and lied about it?
Speaking of Kamala....the Dems have a real liability to deal with. How did such a clueless person ever become vice president?
Race and gender.
No other reason.
This one has made the same accusation several times over the years, each time being debunked.
Not sure why his handlers have not told him that even they have moved on.
When their base is also clueless, so is the one they elect.
Yes..
Biden is the greatest example.
You would think that the CIC would know where our troops are in the world. Maybe not the number of boots on the ground but at least their presence. Instead, we had a clueless buffoon who gets his left sock confused with his right one.
Trump is not the CIC at the present time
No shit?
Donald Trump asked if US troops were in Ukraine in 2017.
Try reading the first line of the seed. He was the CIC then.
What does that have to do with now?
DUH!
Spare me from any further replies Greg. I only took you off ignore long enough to see what idiocy you came up with. I was not disappointed.
This is good stuff. Keep piling on about how stupid a President must be to not know where his troops are deployed.
People could document one million things wrong with Trump and you would still be doing whataboutism.
Cut your losses for gods sake.
You should list your 150,000 lies….
Trump probably confused the CIA presence with a Troop presence.
Has anyone confirmed these accusations?
Sounds like another TDS book by a fired employee with an axe to grind.
Biden never knows where he is much less where all the troops are.
lol. Both your arguments fall flat.
There are dozens of anecdotes about Trump being ignorant or clueless, especially about foreign affairs.
And pretty much every one of them debunked within a day of a book being released.
Sounds like another TDS book by a fired employee with an axe to grind.
Funny how the right doesn’t find anything unusual about the tremendous volume Trump’s employees that were fired, other than that they all just have truckloads of axes to grind. Weird considering how Trump bragged so extensively about how he only hires the best people, drain the swamp, yada yada. At some point these sycophants have to be asking themselves why the hell they are still defending the world’s most notorious moron.
Nobody has made up bs about Trump to sell books? You honestly believe that? Look at this site alone. How many stories about Trump have been debunked? Lot of questions. Are you capable of answering honestly?
TDS sells more books to the drooling masses than porn from websites.
No, really - the enormous volume of accusations is clearly 100% false slander by axe grinders. Coming from the guy who publicly, blatantly, and obviously lied on camera tens of thousands of times, how could anyone think otherwise?
Its long past time to simply give up on many Trump supporters. They are hopeless cases. We just have to outlast them.
Have any of her claims been substantiated? It is amazing that the TDS sufferers still fall for anything after being duped so many times.
Biden gives us proof everyday on national tv that he is bumbling idiot. His staff has to give him picture books to make it through the day.
Someday Trump will not control you…someday.
Most Trump supporters are beyond help.
TDS should be a term to describe those who still support Trump.
Trump recently did a phone interview and in only 12 seconds told 4 lies. Only a really adept liar could accomplish that.
Why hasn't the extremely litigious Trump sued them?
He has so many failed court cases that Guinness is adding a new record to their book.