'This was no jovial ad-lib': Trump shredded over walk-back of 'staple' campaign vow

President Donald Trump is trying to walk back his promise to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine on "day one" by passing it off as a joke — but that's simply not true, CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale wrote in an analysis published Friday.

Trump attempted the walkback in his wide-ranging interview with Time Magazine conducted this week.

"I said that figuratively, and I said that as an exaggeration, because to make a point, and you know, it gets, of course, by the fake news," Trump said when reminded of his words. "Obviously, people know that when I said that, it was said in jest, but it was also said that it will be ended."

But it wasn't at all "in jest," wrote Dale, who has covered lies and false claims from the president extensively.

"A Friday search of the Roll Call Factbase database that catalogues Trump’s public remarks turned up at least 53 examples of Trump making such comments," wrote Dale. "It’s sometimes hard to determine the intent of a politician’s one-time ad-libs, but this was no jovial ad-lib. Rather, the promise of a rapid end to the war was a sober staple of Trump’s pre-written rally remarks. He framed the promise as a key component of his second-term agenda, and he justified it with claims about his 'credibility' as a leader, his history as a 'peacemaker,' and his knowledge of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky."

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For instance, during a speech to the 2023 Conservative Political Action Conference, Trump said, “Before I even arrive at the Oval Office, I will have the disastrous war between Russia and Ukraine settled. It will be settled quickly. Quickly. I will get the problem solved and I will get it solved in rapid order and it will take me no longer than one day. I know exactly what to say to each of them.”

In May of last year, at a town hall in New Hampshire, Trump used similarly specific and literal phrasing.

“If I’m president, I will have that war settled in one day, 24 hours. First, I’ll meet with Putin, I’ll meet with Zelensky. They both have weaknesses and they both have strengths. And within 24 hours, that war will be settled. It will be over. It will be absolutely over.”

As recently as last October, Trump was saying at a rally in Wisconsin, “I will settle the war in Ukraine before I even take office; I’ll settle it as president-elect. I met with President Zelensky the other day. I know President Putin very well. I’ll get it settled.”

Indeed, Dale noted, "Trump sometimes emphasized that he was speaking literally, scoffing at critics who said he couldn’t end the war that fast."

With months of no progress on resolving the war, Trump has forcefully demanded that Ukraine and Russia reach a deal, and has drafted proposals that would effectively give Russia everything it wants by ceding critical occupied territory.