Donald Trump opened up about his relationship with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un in an interview with Joe Rogan.
Speaking with the comedian and UFC commentator on his widely popular podcast on Friday, the Republican presidential nominee said that he had got to know North Korea’s leader ‘very well’ – despite having previously called him a ‘Little Rocket Man’ who was going to ‘burn in hell’.
The former president also told Rogan that by the time he finished his presidential term ‘we had no problem with North Korea’ after urging him to stop building nuclear weapons.
Mr Trump declared: ‘I said: ‘Do you ever do anything else? Why don’t you go take it easy? Go to the beach, relax.
‘I said, “You’re always building nuclear, you don’t have to do it. Relax!” I said, “Let’s build some condos on your shore.’
While appearing on The Joe Rogan Experience, Trump also stated that Russia would never have invaded Ukraine if he had been president.
‘I said, ‘Vladimir [Putin], you’re not going in,’ he told Rogan, adding: ‘I used to talk to him all the time.
‘I can’t tell you what I told him, because I think it would be inappropriate, but someday he’ll tell you, but he would have never gone in.’
Trump also claimed that Putin invaded Ukraine because ‘number one, he doesn’t respect Biden at all’.
The former president also revealed he felt he had made ‘bad choices’ whilst discussing previous appointments to his cabinet.
He attributed the ‘success’ of his presidency to his own decision-making when choosing officials to serve in his administration.
‘The one mistake… I will say it always comes back to the same answer, the biggest mistake I made… I picked some people that I shouldn’t have picked,’ he said.
Rogan then responded questioning if that was in reference to ‘neocons’, to which Trump responded: ‘Yeah, neocons, or bad people, or disloyal people.’
The three-hour long podcast yesterday, which delayed Trump’s latest rally arrival by several hours in Michigan, included a friendly discussion of the scar with which the politician was left after Thomas Mathew Cooks assassination attempt on July 13.
He referred to a ‘tiny little mark’ on his ear where he was shot, adding: ‘It zicked right there.’
In 2022, Rogan had been adamant that Trump would never appear on ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ because he did not want to help the Republican party’s campaign.
He turned down multiple offers to have Trump on the show and said: ‘I am not a Trump supporter in any way, shape, or form.
‘I’ve had the opportunity to have him on my show more than once – I’ve said no, every time. I don’t want to help him. I’m not interested in helping him.’
However, after he faced backlash after he seemingly endorsed RFK Jr over Trump, Rogan was forced to double back on his comments – insisting he wasn’t endorsing Kennedy, who recently pulled out of the presidential race and backed Trump.
The episode was released at 10pm Eastern Time on Friday night, and viewing figures soared to 300,000 in just 30 minutes.