President Donald Trump told donors in 2024 he had cautioned Russian President Vladimir Putin that bombs would drop on Moscow if the Russian leader invaded Ukraine, a new book claims.
The book, ‘2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America,’ was published on Tuesday and chronicles how Trump secured his victory in the November 2024 election, and how former President Joe Biden’s team dismissed concerns about his age in the campaign cycle.
According to the book, Trump told donors that he’d issued a harsh warning to Putin about any potential invasion. Additionally, he said he’d issued a similar warning to Chinese President Xi Jinping, should the Chinese leader invade Taiwan, the book said.
‘I was with Putin and I told him, ‘Vladimir, if you do it, we’re going to bomb the s— out of Moscow,’’ Trump revealed, according to an audio recording, also shared with CNN. ‘‘If you go into Taiwan, I’m going to bomb the s— out of Beijing.’ He thought I was crazy… He didn’t believe me either, except 10 percent. And 10 percent is all you need.’
In response, the White House said that Russia only invaded Ukraine in February 2022 — after Trump’s first term in office.
‘As President Trump has said time and again, Russia never dared invade Ukraine when he was in office. It happened only when Biden was in office,’ White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a Wednesday statement. ‘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.’
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital confirming the authenticity of the audio.
The book ‘2024’ is one of several that have been released in 2025 detailing how Trump secured victory in the 2024 election and how Biden’s mental acuity declined. It is authored by Josh Dawsey of the Wall Street Journal, Tyler Pager of the New York Times and Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post.
The authors did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Trump has recently voiced frustration with Putin as he’s sought to bring an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine. Tuesday, Trump said during a Cabinet meeting he was fed up with Putin and said he was eyeing potentially imposing new sanctions on Russia.
‘We get a lot of bulls— thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth. He’s very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless,’ Trump said Tuesday.
Fox News’ Sarah Tobianski contributed to this report.