Washington
CNN
—
Former President Donald Trump falsely claimed Wednesday that his Democratic opponent within the presidential election, Vice President Kamala Harris, met with Russian President Vladimir Putin simply days earlier than Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
Trump stated in a speech in North Carolina: “Bear in mind when Biden despatched Kamala to Europe to cease the conflict in Ukraine. She met with Putin, after which three days later, he attacked. How did she do? Do you assume she did an excellent job? She met with Putin to inform him, ‘Don’t do it.’ And three days later, he attacked; that’s when the assault began. Do you know that, Basic?” (Retired Military Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg was on the North Carolina occasion.)
Information First: Trump’s declare is fake. Harris has by no means met with Putin. In actuality, she met with US allies, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, on the Munich Safety Convention within the days earlier than Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Putin was not on the convention.
“Frankly talking, I can’t recall a single contact between President Putin and Mrs. Harris,” a Kremlin spokesperson said last month, based on a state-owned Russian information company.
The Biden administration was nonetheless making an attempt to discourage an invasion of Ukraine on the time of Harris’ 2022 journey to the convention in Germany, however prime administration officers, together with President Joe Biden himself, made clear that they believed Putin was already transferring towards invading. As Harris was on her way to Germany, Biden told reporters that he thought a Russian assault “will occur within the subsequent a number of days.”
CNN reported on the day the Munich convention started {that a} senior administration official stated Harris had three key goals: “Deal with the ‘fast-changing’ state of affairs on the bottom, preserve full alignment with companions and ship a transparent message to Russia that the US prefers diplomacy however is prepared in case of Russian aggression.”
The Munich convention was held from February 18 to February 20, 2022; Russia started its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.