Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani sought to assure Polish Americans that Donald Trump does not know Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Giuliani opened for Trump before the Polish American Congress in Chicago on Wednesday and offered a description of the GOP nominee’s relationship with the Russian leader that contradicted Trump’s previous statements.
“I know him [Trump] for 28 years and I know there have been some remarks about Putin and all of this. He doesn’t know Putin, he’s never met Putin,” Giuliani said. “Will he negotiate with Putin? Yes. Did Reagan negotiate with Gorbachev? Yes. But he’s going to negotiate with him from a position of military strength that dwarfs the Soviet — sorry, Russia.”
Trump has both touted his relationship with Putin and claimed that he has no relationship with Putin.
Asked in 2013 by MSNBC whether he has a relationship with Putin, Trump responded, “I do have a relationship, and I can tell you that he’s very interested in what we’re doing here today. He’s probably very interested in what you and I are saying today, and I’m sure he’s going to be seeing it in some form.”
Two years later, Trump provided more detail about his relationship with Putin on the GOP primary debate stage.
“I got to know him very well because we were both on ’60 Minutes,'” Trump said of Putin at a debate hosted by Fox Business Network in November 2015. “We were stablemates, and we did very well that night.” While Trump and Putin did appear on the same program, they were not interviewed together.
After securing the GOP nomination and coming under fire from Clinton, Trump’s tune has changed. In a July 31, 2016, interview on ABC, Trump disputed his own claim that he had a relationship with Putin.
“I have no relationship with Putin,” Trump said in July. “I don’t think I’ve ever met him. I never met him … I mean if he’s in the same room or something, but I don’t think so.”
When Trump took the stage in Chicago on Wednesday, he avoided discussion of Putin and told the crowd, “A Trump administration will be a true friend to Poland.”
After Trump’s speech, Polish American Congress President Frank Spula thanked the GOP nominee and said, “Hopefully, you’ll be the next president.”
The Polish American Congress’ relationship with the Clintons grew strained after former President Bill Clinton suggested Poland wanted “Putin-like dictatorships” while campaigning for Hillary Clinton earlier this year.
