Home | News | Report: Trump Claimed He Threatened to Bomb Moscow and Beijing Over Ukraine and Taiwan

Report: Trump Claimed He Threatened to Bomb Moscow and Beijing Over Ukraine and Taiwan

President Donald Trump (Photo: The White House/flickr.com)

By Middle Land Staff

July 9, 2025
5:06 pm
Los Angeles, CA

Former President Donald Trump reportedly told private donors that he once threatened to bomb both Moscow and Beijing if Russia invaded Ukraine or China moved against Taiwan, according to audio obtained by CNN and featured in a new political book. In a series of fundraising events held in New York and Florida during his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump shared stories of alleged blunt warnings he delivered to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. The remarks, which were recorded and later obtained by Washington Post journalists Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager, and Isaac Arnsdorf, appear in their upcoming book, “2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America.” According to the recordings, Trump told donors he once confronted Putin directly:“I was with Putin, and I said,

In a series of fundraising events held in New York and Florida during his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump shared stories of alleged blunt warnings he delivered to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. The remarks, which were recorded and later obtained by Washington Post journalists Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager, and Isaac Arnsdorf, appear in their upcoming book, “2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America.”

According to the recordings, Trump told donors he once confronted Putin directly:
“I was with Putin, and I said, ‘Vladimir, what are you doing? If you go into Ukraine, I’m going to bomb the sht out of Moscow.’”*

Trump claimed Putin dismissed the threat at first but later took him somewhat seriously:
“He goes, like, ‘I don’t believe you.’ The truth is, he believed me 10%. And 10% is all you need. In fact, 5% would have been enough.”

The former president said he made a nearly identical statement to Chinese President Xi Jinping in regard to Taiwan. When Trump warned Xi that the U.S. would retaliate militarily if China invaded Taiwan, Xi allegedly responded in disbelief.
“Beijing? You’re going to bomb Beijing?” Xi reportedly asked.
“I said, ‘I have no choice,’” Trump said, adding that Xi also believed him “10%.”

These anecdotes were delivered to a room of wealthy donors, some of whom were heard laughing on the recordings as Trump detailed the aggressive diplomatic language he claimed to have used with world leaders. Trump defended his rhetoric, saying such language was necessary to get through to adversaries like Putin and Xi. He mocked former President Barack Obama’s approach to diplomacy, paraphrasing him as saying, “Take the lumps out,” and adding, “I don’t believe in taking the lumps out.”

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov responded to the CNN report on Wednesday, telling journalists that the Russian government could not confirm the authenticity of the claims.
“There are a lot of fakes. I don’t know how reliable this information is,” Peskov said during a press briefing in Moscow.

CNN reported that the audio came from closed-door fundraising events, and was shared as part of the authors’ research for the book on Trump’s campaign and the shifting American political landscape.

Following CNN’s report, White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly issued a statement:

“As President Trump has said time and again, Russia never dared invade Ukraine when he was in office. It happened only under Joe Biden’s watch.”
She continued, “Thanks to this President’s leadership, America is once again the leader of the free world, and peace through strength is restored. President Trump won on an America First agenda, and he is working hard to implement the mandate the American people gave him.”

Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, over a year after Trump left office. During Trump’s presidency, Russia did annex parts of eastern Ukraine and Crimea in 2014 under the Obama administration, but did not conduct a full invasion during his term.

Similarly, tensions have escalated between China and Taiwan in recent years, but no military invasion has occurred. Trump has previously boasted that his unpredictability and strong stance on military retaliation served as deterrents to U.S. adversaries during his time in office.

The story is likely to fuel further debate over Trump’s foreign policy style as he campaigns for a return to the White House in 2024, positioning himself once again as a leader who practices “peace through strength.”