Donald Trump claims he once sent a white flag as a gift to Angela Merkel after the former German chancellor reached an agreement with Russia on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
Answering the Full Send Podcast on March 9, former US President Donald Trump said that former German Chancellor Angela Merkel had “surrendered to Russia” when allowed the Kremlin to back the Nord Stream 2 project.
Nord Stream 2 is a pipeline project to transport gas directly from Russia to Germany via the Baltic Sea, completely without going through the three Baltic countries, Ukraine or Poland. Nord Stream 2 was built in 2018 and completed last year, but not yet operational.
Nord Stream 2 is the reason why Germany hesitated to give arms to Ukraine when the West called for help Ukraine against Russia.
“I have advised Angela Merkel very clearly that she was making a terrible deal with the enemies of NATO by approving the Nord Stream 2 project,” the former US president said.
“I actually sent her a small gift which was a white flag. It was a surrender flag. She asked, “What is this?”, I replied, “It’s a surrender flag.”
Currently, the former German chancellor has not commented on this information.
Nord Stream 2 is 1230 km long, can double the gas supply from Russia to Germany to 110 billion m³ per year. This project is an alternative to the aging pipeline system passing through Ukraine and helps Russia to sell gas at cheaper prices to Germany. Because Russia will not have to pay transit costs to Ukraine.
The United States and its European allies have long opposed the pipeline. They fear Russia could use the project as a geopolitical weapon and increase Europe’s energy dependence on Russia. Especially, Germany is the EU’s largest economy. Supporters of the project argue that this is an economic issue, not a political one.
Two days before Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a military operation in Ukraine, the new German Chancellor Olaf Scholz asked the government to suspend the process of reviewing and approving the Nord Stream 2 project.
A day later, US President Joe Biden imposed sanctions on the investor Nord Stream 2 AG and its leader to punish Russia.
Donald Trump approved sanctions on this Nord Stream 2 pipeline in December 2019, when he was still President of the United States.
“It will make Berlin a “hostage of Russia”
In May 2021, Biden lifted sanctions imposed by his predecessor to mend relations with Europe. The project was then 95% complete.
Mr. Trump told the Full Send Podcast that President Putin would never attack Ukraine if he was re-elected president of the United States.
“I haven’t spoken to him (Putin) since leaving the White House, but he (Putin) will never do that under the Trump administration. I told Putin that he would not have a chance to act like that,” Trump said.
“Putin saw the weakness of the United States when he saw the shameful withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan. Putin saw the US in a different way, no longer respecting the US.”
Lastest update
On March 11, Full Send Podcast announced on Twitter that YouTube had deleted their above interview with Donald Trump. “YouTube thinks it violates their misinformation policy”.
YouTube has removed the Trump episode… pic.twitter.com/2FftbXY7g9
— Full Send Podcast (@fullsendpodcast) March 11, 2022
This has caused a backlash from the netizens in the US – especially Trump supporters. They said that President Biden was “too weak”.
