President Biden admitted it was a mistake to talk about putting Donald Trump ‘in a bull’s-eye’ several days before the assassination attempt on the former president.

‘It was a mistake to use the word … I meant focus on him: Focus on what he’s doing, focus on one on his policies, focus on the number of lies he told,’ Biden told NBC’s Lester Holt during a sit-down interview at the White House set to air Monday evening. 

‘I mean, there’s a whole range of things that, look, I’m not the guy that said I want to be a dictator on day one,’ Biden argued. ‘I’m not the guy that refused to accept the outcome of the election.’

‘You can’t only love your country when you win, and so the focus was on what he’s saying and I mean the idea,’ Biden added, noting he also didn’t say ‘crosshairs.’ 

Trump was hit as multiple shots were fired toward the stage from an elevated position near the outdoor venue where he was holding a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. 

The bullet pierced the upper part of his right ear before the former president was rushed from the stage by Secret Service agents. Trump told the Post that had he not turned his head slightly to the right to read a chart on illegal immigration, the bullet that grazed him would have been fatal.

Biden speaking on Sunday night had called for Americans to ‘lower the temperature in our politics’ and ‘remember, while we may disagree, we are not enemies: We’re neighbors, we’re friends, coworkers, citizens, and, most importantly, we are fellow Americans. We must stand together.’ 

But he struck a more defiant tone during his Monday interview, recalling some of Trump’s more strident remarks and insisting that Trump is engaging in rhetoric that could ‘incite somebody.’

‘When a president says things like he says, do you just not say anything because it may incite somebody?’ Biden said. 

‘Look, I’ve – I have not engaged in that rhetoric,’ he insisted. ‘Now, my opponent is engaged in that rhetoric: He talks about it’d be a bloodbath if he loses, talking about how he’s forgiven – actually, I guess, suspend the sentences of all those who were arrested and sentenced to go to jail because of what happened in the Capitol.’

‘I’m not out there making fun of like, I remember the picture of Donald Trump when Nancy Pelosi’s husband was hit with a hammer, go on talking about joking about it,’ he added. 

Biden also remained defiant about his position as the Democrat’s candidate, as his party continues trying to convince him to step down and let another candidate face Trump in November, citing concerns about his age and fitness to continue with a second term after a disastrous debate performance last month. 

’14 million people voted for me to be the nominee of the Democratic Party, okay?’ Biden said. ‘I listen to them.’ 

Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman and Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.

Republican Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson brushed off vice presidential nominee JD Vance’s anti-Trump comments from 2016, arguing Vance’s evolution with Trump could sway on-the-fence Americans to vote red. 

‘I think it’s admirable that people grow and they change their opinions. And I credit him with that. That’s not going to be a problem at all. He just might help other people change their opinions of Donald Trump, who had to be changed after what happened on Saturday night,’ Johnson told Fox News Digital from the RNC. 

‘That is a life-changing event for anybody. You got President Trump now, if he wins re-election, he doesn’t have to worry about re-election. That’s liberating, and he has to believe that God saved him for a reason, for this moment,’ he continued, referring to the assassination attempt against Trump on Saturday. 

As Vance’s national prominence rose in 2016 following the release of his memoir ‘Hillbilly Elegy,’ he was critical of Trump’s presidential run, including describing himself as a ‘Never Trump guy.’ The senator has since totally disavowed his comments, and underscored to voters that he’s unafraid to admit when he is wrong. 

Vance has taken the previous comments head-on during interviews with the media, including during an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier last month. 

‘Look, I was wrong about Donald Trump,’ Vance said. ‘I didn’t think he was gonna be a good president, Bret. He was a great president. And it’s one of the reasons why I’m working so hard to make sure he gets a second term.’

Johnson added that Vance is a man of ‘integrity,’ noting Trump ‘chose wisely’ when weighing his vice presidential pick. 

‘I hate to lose him as a colleague. That pretty much says it all. He’s a person of integrity, intelligence. He’s a great vice presidential pick. President Trump had a wealth of talent to choose from, and I think he chose wisely,’ Johnson said while speaking to a gaggle of reporters from the RNC. 

Trump announced Vance as his running mate on Monday, which marked the start of the Republican National Convention. 

‘After lengthy deliberation and thought, and considering the tremendous talents of many others, I have decided that the person best suited to assume the position of Vice President of the United States is Senator J.D. Vance of the Great State of Ohio,’ Trump announced on his Truth Social platform Monday afternoon. 

Trump’s announcement comes on the heels of an assassination attempt on his life Saturday evening in Pennsylvania. Trump came within inches of losing his life when a shooter, identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, shot at him, hitting him in the ear. The Secret Service subsequently shot and killed Crooks.

MILWAUKEE — Ohio Sen. JD Vance is a ‘dynamic’ choice for vice president who will bolster former President Trump’s message of unity, New York Rep. Nicole Malliotakis told Fox News Digital. 

‘JD Vance is a young, dynamic individual who is a great communicator. … He has an amazing personal story. He relates to regular American people all across the country, and I think that he will certainly add to the ticket, Malliotakis told Fox News Digital from the RNC. 

‘Not to mention, he comes from a swing state, which is always helpful.’

Trump announced Vance as his running mate on Monday as the RNC kicked off and delegates from across the nation officially nominated Trump. 

‘After lengthy deliberation and thought, and considering the tremendous talents of many others, I have decided that the person best suited to assume the position of Vice President of the United States is Senator J.D. Vance of the Great State of Ohio,’ Trump announced on his Truth Social platform Monday afternoon. 

Vance serves as a senator from Ohio after previously working as a venture capitalist and making his mark on the national map with his memoir, ‘Hillbilly Elegy.’

The junior Ohio senator previously made critical comments amid Trump’s 2016 run but has since become a loyal ally of the 45th president, including in May when Trump was on trial for 34 counts of falsifying business records. 

Malliotakis also joined Vance and a bevy of other Trump allies at the courthouse during the trial, with the New York congresswoman telling Fox News Digital she had the opportunity to get to know Vance well as they defended Trump during what she described as a ‘sham trial.’ 

‘I actually got to know JD quite a bit when we both went with President Trump to the courthouse during his sham trial in New York City,’ she said. ‘So I’m happy for him. I wish him the best of luck, and I think he’s going to do a great job.’

A message of unity has taken center stage at the RNC after the assassination attempt on Trump on Saturday evening at a rally in Pennsylvania. Malliotakis said the ‘outrageous’ attacks on Trump have hit levels seen in third-world countries and that it ‘needs to stop.’ 

‘Ever since President Trump came down the escalator nine years ago, he’s been vilified by the left. His opponents have done everything to try to destroy him financially, professionally, personally, and the rhetoric has gone way too far. And look what they did this year alone. They tried to kick him off the ballot, tried to put him in jail, and now someone tried to kill him. And it’s because of the rhetoric that came from the left, saying that President Trump is so dangerous, the biggest danger to democracy and comparing him to Hitler.’

‘It’s outrageous and it has to stop.’

Malliotakis said that rhetoric against Trump has heightened to the point reminiscent of actions in third-world countries, citing the court cases against Trump this year as well as the assassination attempt. 

‘Now trying to kill an opponent, that is not what happens in the United States of America. And I hope Americans – Republicans, independents and Democrats – unite by sending a clear message supporting President Trump,’ Malliotakis said, adding she believes Vance will ‘absolutely’ bolster this mission. 

Gunfire rang out at Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, about eight minutes after he took the stage on Saturday. 

Trump was seen abruptly grabbing his right ear before ducking and hitting the floor of the stage. Secret Service personnel quickly surrounded Trump before he was escorted off the stage, his right ear covered in blood.

Before he was ushered out, Trump appeared to yell ‘Fight!’ while giving a fist pump to the crowd to indicate he was OK.

‘I’m just so happy that he’s alive, that he’s doing well, that he will be here. I think that there’s a lot of excitement here in Milwaukee right now for President Trump’s speech on Thursday.’

‘We believe he will be calling on the country to come together because we may have differences as Americans on policy. And we need to learn, all of us, to debate it respectfully on the House floor, in the media and at the ballot box.’

President Biden remained defiant about his position as the Democrat’s candidate following a turbulent political weekend in a clip from his exclusive NBC interview that is set to air in its entirety Monday evening.

’14 million people voted for me to be the nominee of the Democratic Party, okay?’ Biden told NBC’s Lester Holt during their sit-down interview at the White House. ‘I listen to them.’

Biden also revealed to Holt that he hadn’t fully reviewed the debate with Donald Trump, which has prompted many within his party and among his donors to question his fitness to remain at the top of the ticket rather than step aside and let a younger candidate take charge. 

‘I’ve seen pieces of it, I’ve not watched the whole debate,’ Biden said. 

Biden also had no kind words for Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, whom Trump selected as his running mate for the Republican Party. 

‘Well, it’s not unusual: He’s gonna surround himself with people who agree completely with him, have a voting record like – support him,’ Biden said, before adding ‘even though if you go back and look at some of the things JD Vance said about Trump,’ and then chuckled. 

The full interview airs at 9 p.m. tonight on NBC. 

MILWAUKEE – A Trump campaign spokesperson sat down with Fox News Digital on Monday and explained why Ohio GOP Sen. JD Vance was ultimately who Trump selected as his running mate.

‘I couldn’t be more excited that JD Vance is our vice presidential nominee,’ Trump 2024 Deputy Communications Director Caroline Sunshine told Fox News Digital.

‘You know, President Trump, ever since he came down the escalator in 2015, said, I’m here to fight for the forgotten men and women of America. You look at the RNC platform that our party just put out, that President Trump was intricately involved in drafting, and at the very top, it says, dedicated to the forgotten men and women of America. JD Vance comes from a community of forgotten men and women.’

Sunshine explained that Vance, who came from humble beginnings in southwest Ohio, has ‘lived the American Dream.’

‘He has served his country in the Marine Corps,’ Sunshine continued. ‘He enlisted in the Marine Corps right after the Twin Towers came down. He has, of course, realized as many in that generation of global war on terror veterans have, that America shouldn’t be in endless foreign wars that don’t serve its interests. He’s completely aligned with President Trump’s ambition to make this country wealthy, safe and strong again.’

Sunshine said that part of Vance’s appeal is that he does not pretend to identify with the ‘forgotten’ people in the United States.

‘A lot of people in politics get up on their soapbox and pretend that you know, they know what it’s like to be somebody,’ Sunshine said.  ‘You got Kamala Harris acting like she’s from Oakland. They pretend like they know what it’s like to come from somewhere. JD Vance actually does come from the forgotten men and women communities. He understands those problems and that suffering viscerally, and I think he’s really going to be a tremendous asset to President Trump.’

Sunshine touted Vance’s ability to resonate in the key battleground states in the Rust Belt that many experts believe could swing the election.

‘He’s an extraordinary American,’ Sunshine said. ‘He is a public servant. That’s so important to remember. I mean, President Trump didn’t get into politics for personal gain. President Trump has given to this country. He’s fortunate to have a running mate like JD Vance, who is of the same ilk, somebody who loves this country, who has given, who has sacrificed for this country.’

Trump announced his selection of Vance, a one-time Trump critic who has transformed into a leading America First disciple, in a Truth Social post on Monday as Republican delegates were gathering on the convention floor in Milwaukee.

‘After lengthy deliberation and thought, and considering the tremendous talents of many others, I have decided that the person best suited to assume the position of Vice President of the United States is Senator J.D. Vance of the Great State of Ohio,’ Trump posted.

Trump emphasized that Vance, on the campaign trail ‘will be strongly focused on the people he fought so brilliantly for, the American Workers and Farmers in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota, and far beyond….’

The Biden campaign quickly began attacking Vance on social media.

‘Trump has selected far-right MAGA extremist JD Vance as his running mate,’ the Biden-Harris HQ posted on X. ‘Vance is a 2020 election denier, supports a national abortion ban, and voted against IVF access.’

‘Here’s the deal about J.D. Vance,’ Biden’s campaign account posted on X, along with a fundraising link. :He talks a big game about working people. But now, he and Trump want to raise taxes on middle-class families while pushing more tax cuts for the rich.’

Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser and Brandon Gillespie contributed to this report.

Pro-life advocacy groups are backing Ohio Senator JD Vance, whom former President Donald Trump selected as his running mate in the 2024 presidential election, despite his recent support for abortion pill access. 

Last week, Vance in an interview with ‘Meet the Press’ said that he supports the abortion pill mifepristone ‘being accessible’ after the Supreme Court ruled against pro-life advocates who sued to end its Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval. 

Vance’s position on abortion pill access is apparently not dissuading support from pro-life groups who are hailing Trump’s selection for vice president as ‘an exceptional selection.’ 

‘His courage in exposing the Democrats’ agenda of abortion for any reason, even in the seventh, eighth, or ninth month, helped propel him to a decisive victory in the 2022 midterm elections,’ said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA Pro Life America. 

‘Vance’s hardscrabble upbringing informs his compassionate approach to this issue. He saw firsthand how the deck can be stacked against women facing unexpected pregnancies if they do not have the support and resources they need, even though most would rather choose life. His ability to compellingly share these stories on a national stage will surely be an asset,’ she said. 

Brian Burch, president of CatholicVote said his organization ‘will proudly help the Trump-Vance ticket win in November.

‘Vance represents a vision for the country that we have long embraced – a vision that proudly prioritizes American workers, families, and children. A vision that proudly puts the needs and interests of Americans first, while pushing back against the secular, technocratic, and globalist agendas of our elitist corporate and political class that despise common people and our common moral and religious way of life,’ he said.

Vance, he said, ‘is solidly pro-life.’ ‘But it’s important to note that he is not running for president himself and understands he must work with President Trump to both win the election and then govern in a way that actually achieves real results for the unborn, given the political realities of our moment,’ Bursch added. 

Bursch also said that ‘it’s premature to draw too broad a conclusion about Vance’s abortion advocacy’ based solely on what he called ‘a left-leaning gotcha interview.’  

‘We understand the public remains divided over this issue, yet mifeprestone deserves to be looked at closely given the reckless mishandling of its approval by the FDA, as well as its demonstrated harm to women. There is no question that these abortion drugs directly destroy an innocent human life. But they also have significant risks for the mother of the baby.’ 

‘We will continue to press both Trump and Vance to take seriously the harm these dangerous drugs pose to women and society at large,’ he said. 

But Vance didn’t get unanimous approval from the pro-life activist community. Lila Rose of Live Action posted a statement on X saying, ‘Both J.D. Vance and President Trump support the legalization of abortion pills. This is heartbreaking and wrong.’ 

A Fox News poll in May revealed that the issue of abortion access was one of three ‘deal breaker’ issues for voters in 2024, along with border security and the economy. 

At 15%, abortion edges out the economy and border security/immigration (each at 14%) as the biggest deal-breaker issue, according to that poll.

MILWAUKEE — Former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy told Fox News Digital that President Trump was ‘energetic’ after surviving an assassination attempt on Saturday, calling him an ‘inspiration’ and saying he will ‘be the one to unite the country’ while praising his ‘outstanding’ pick of Sen. JD Vance as his running mate.

Fox News Digital spoke exclusively with Ramaswamy shortly after Trump announced on Monday that Vance, R-Ohio, is his pick for vice president.

‘He’s going to be an awesome VP,’ Ramaswamy told Fox News Digital, adding that he has known him ‘for over a decade.’

Ramaswamy and Vance were classmates at Yale Law School and both grew up in southwest Ohio. 

‘I think he is going to be not only a good policy voice, but his story is an American Dream story, and I think that he will give inspiration to a lot of people, but he also wants policies that allow a lot of people to live the same dream he has,’ Ramaswamy said. ‘And I love him.’

‘He’s in politics for the right reasons. He’s honest. And I just think he’s a great choice, outstanding,’ Ramaswamy added. 

Vance grew up in a working-class family in a small city in southwestern Ohio. His parents divorced when he was young, and as his mother struggled for years with drug and alcohol abuse, Vance was raised in part by his maternal grandparents.

After high school graduation, Vance enlisted in the Marine Corps and served in the Iraq War. He later graduated from Ohio State University and earned a law degree at Yale University.

Vance, who lives in Cincinnati, moved to San Francisco after law school and worked as a principal in a venture capital firm owned by billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel, who later became a major financial supporter of Vance’s successful 2020 campaign for the Senate.

Before running for Senate, Vance grabbed national attention after ‘Hillbilly Elegy,’ which tells his story of growing up in a struggling steel mill city and his roots in Appalachian Kentucky, became a New York Times bestseller and was made into a Netflix film. The story spotlighted the values of many working-class Americans who became supporters of Trump’s policies.

Ramswamy also told Fox News Digital he feels Vance will attract young voters but also ‘more than that.’ 

‘I think he’s going to attract a lot of people who are hungry for economic mobility in the country, and I think he’s even going to attract a lot of people who aren’t traditional Republicans,’ he said.

Meanwhile, Ramaswamy reflected on the assassination attempt on former President Trump on Saturday at his campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. He told Fox News Digital that the former president and Republican nominee is handling the days after the attempt on his life ‘admirably.’

‘I spoke to President Trump that night. It was 12:30 a.m., and he was as energetic as ever,’ Ramaswamy said. ‘And I just think he demonstrated through his action … in that moment to say, ‘I’m going to take the hit and still stand up for the people who I am here to represent, that I was put here to lead.’’

He added, ‘I think it’s admirable, and I think he gave inspiration to a lot of Americans, even some who may not agree with him on everything. I think it’s going to be a moment for the history books.’ 

Trump was hit as multiple shots were fired toward the stage from an elevated position near the outdoor venue where he was holding his rally on Saturday. The bullet pierced the upper part of his right ear before the former president was rushed from the stage by Secret Service agents.

The would-be assassin was identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was killed by a Secret Service sniper soon after he opened fire.

But Crooks killed one spectator: Corey Comperatore, a father, husband and former fire chief in Buffalo Township, Pennsylvania.

Authorities say two other people were critically injured in the attack, and the FBI is investigating the shooting as an assassination attempt.

‘It was a tragedy for the person who died, and we have to remember that, and our heart goes out to their family,’ Ramaswamy said. 

‘But we avoided by miracle what would have been a national tragedy, and I think it is an opportunity for us to take a step back and ask ourselves what is important in this country,’ he said. ‘We care about one country, and I believe President Trump is going to be the one who unites the country.’

As for the Republican National Convention this week in Milwaukee, Ramaswamy told Fox News Digital he is looking forward to ‘candor.’

‘I think Saturday night was a wake-up call, and hopefully that will cut through standard stump-speech-style verbiage,’ he said, adding that there are ‘a lot of good people here who hopefully will speak from the heart.’

‘I think it will be good for the country,’ he told Fox News Digital.  ‘I think it will start the process of turning the page on a chapter of national toxicity that I hope we put behind us.’

Usha Vance, the wife of Ohio Sen. JD Vance was thrust into the national spotlight after former President Donald Trump chose her husband as his running mate Monday.

Usha Vance, née Chilukuri, born in 1986, was raised in San Diego, California, and attended Yale Law School, where she met the future Ohio senator, according to a report from the New York Times.

‘We were friends, and I liked that he was very diligent,’ she told NBC News about how she met her husband in a 2017 interview. ‘He would show up at 9 a.m. appointments that I would set up for us to start working on the brief together.’

‘The thing that I remember most about Usha is just how completely forward and comfortable with herself she was,’ the Ohio senator said of his wife during the interview. ‘(She was) so defensive about the things that she really cared about.’

Before law school, Vance received a bachelor’s degree in history from Yale and a master’s in Philosophy from the University of Cambridge.

The pair married in 2014 and have three children together: sons, Ewan, 6, and Vivek, 4, and a daughter, Mirabel, 2.

Vance completed multiple clerkships after her graduation from Yale, according to an Axios report, including for Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh when he was serving on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

She would later work for Munger, Tolles & Olson, a California law firm that described its culture as ‘radically progressive,’ the report notes.

Vance has also worked to defend the University of California against allegations it violated Title IX and the Walt Disney Company against claims of copyright infringement. 

The wife and mother of three has in the past expressed skepticism of the possibility that her husband could be Trump’s vice presidential pick, telling Fox News last month such a decision would change the couple’s lives.

‘I’m not raring to change anything about our lives right now,’ she said while noting she is ‘open’ to whatever happens.

The Republican Party is going all in on the ‘Make America Great Again’ (MAGA) movement with the selection of their 2024 candidates — which is already being framed by Democrats as an ‘extremist’ ticket.

After months of speculation, GOP presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump announced his pick to join him on the 2024 Republican ticket, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, a staunch supporter of the former president aligned with the MAGA wing of the GOP.

Democrats have attempted to smear Trump’s MAGA agenda as ‘extremist’ over the years, a talking point that they are already using to describe the GOP pair after Trump revealed Vance will run with him on the ticket.

‘Trump has selected far-right MAGA extremist JD Vance as his running mate. Vance is a 2020 election denier, supports a national abortion ban, and voted against IVF access,’ Biden-Harris HQ, the Democrat’s official 2024 campaign account, posted on X after the announcement.

‘Here’s the deal about J.D. Vance. He talks a big game about working people. But now, he and Trump want to raise taxes on middle-class families while pushing more tax cuts for the rich,’ President Joe Biden said in a post on X.

Former Rep. Tim Ryan, the Democrat Vance beat for the Ohio Senate seat in 2022, also attacked the vice presidential pick as ‘even more extreme than Trump.’

‘At best, JD Vance is a phony and a fraud. At worst, he has extremely deranged views towards women. His political agenda is even more extreme than Trump and his history of dishonesty and opportunism means he cannot be trusted,’ Ryan claimed in a post on X. 

‘I was hoping President Trump would have picked a VP that had a reputation of someone who consistently reached out to find common ground,’ Ryan continued. ‘JD is the exact opposite of that. Democrats must act quickly to expose him.’

The GOP, however, is rallying behind Trump and Vance with unified support for the 2024 ticket and implementing ‘America first’ policies.

Former President Trump’s choice of Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, as his running mate in the November election could make Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s mission to shore up support for Ukraine in the Republican Party more difficult. 

The Ohio senator has been a vocal critic of the various foreign aid packages, which included assistance for Ukraine in its ongoing war with Russia. ‘The problem in Ukraine … is that there’s no clear end point,’ he previously remarked, echoing a complaint of other Republicans about the status of the conflict. 

Vance has further questioned the continued aid to Ukraine over a lack of oversight, even introducing legislation to better monitor it. ‘The United States has sent tens of billions worth of military aid to Ukraine with shockingly little accountability for where those resources have gone,’ he said in a statement at the time 

‘For example, we know that over half the weapons subject to enhanced end-use monitoring we’ve sent have not been tracked according to DOD standards. This is totally unacceptable. My legislation would require the Biden administration to maintain much higher standards of tracking the weapons we send overseas. If they can’t maintain those standards, they lose their authority to send weapons in the first place,’ he added. 

This past spring, the Ohio Republican voted against the $95 billion foreign aid package for Ukraine, Israel, and the Indo-Pacific, which ultimately passed. 

On the other hand, McConnell has made support for Ukraine his priority going forward. The Kentucky senator announced he would be stepping down as leader of the upper chamber’s Republicans in February, but he will remain in Congress. 

He previously noted he planned to put ‘the main part of my focus in the coming years’ on pushing back on Russia in Ukraine. He referred to the war as ‘a worldwide problem for democracies.’ 

In an interview last week, McConnell claimed to be seeing improvement in his party on the issue of supporting Ukraine and demonstrating leadership on the world stage. ‘Reagan would turn over in his grave if he thought we were not willing to stand up for people fighting for their independence — particularly against the Russians,’ he claimed. 

Despite the clear foreign policy differences between McConnell and Vance, the Senate Minority Leader applauded Trump on his choice of vice presidential nominee on Monday. ‘Senator JD Vance is a fierce advocate for the president’s policies and is the obvious pick for President Trump. He’ll make a strong case on the campaign trail on why we need to turn the page on the disastrous policies of the Biden administration,’ read a tweet from the Kentucky senator’s campaign account. 

Trump hasn’t been entirely forthcoming about what he would do to address the war between Ukraine and Russia, often claiming he would quickly be able to end the conflict. ‘If I’m president, I will have that war settled in one day, 24 hours,’ he once said.