Trump says he knows exactly why Putin wouldn’t have invaded

President Donald Trump said the reason Russia invaded Ukraine under President Biden instead of himself is obvious.

Trump had a historic meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday to discuss the possibility of peace with Ukraine. In a press conference after their discussion, Putin confirmed Trump’s long-held claim that he would not have started a war with the Ukraine if Trump was in the Oval Office at the time, in early 2022.

Speaking with Fox News’ Sean Hannity soon after, Trump said he knew exactly why that invasion happened under President Biden, and not under his watch.

‘He said your election was rigged because you have mail-in voting.’

Hannity brought up Putin’s statement, and asked if the Russian leader gave specific reasons as to why he made the remark.

“He did,” Trump began. “I know the reason, it’s gross incompetence. We have a border that is totally close now and people come in, but they come in legally.”

Trump revealed that not only did Putin say that if he had won the 2020 presidential election “we wouldn’t have had a war,” but also that Trump was cheated out of an election victory, as well.

RELATED: ‘There’s no deal until there’s a deal’: Trump says Alaska meeting with Putin was ‘extremely productive’

The POTUS said that Putin pinpointed mail-in voting as the apparatus Democrats used to rig the election.

“He said your election was rigged because you have mail-in voting. He said mail-in voting, every election, he said no country has mail-in voting. It is impossible to have mail-in voting and have honest elections,” Trump recalled, claiming that Putin said he won the presidency “by so much.”

The 47th president explained that Putin also complimented the quick turnaround the United States has had since Biden left office, and that the U.S. is “hot as a pistol.”

“A year ago he thought [the country] was dead,” Trump relayed.

Trump also referred to the 2020 election as a “tragedy” because Biden taking office actually produced “something that was unthinkable.”

RELATED: VIDEO: LA Mayor Karen Bass has deranged meltdown over ICE operation near Newsom’s anti-Trump presser

Photo by Contributor/Getty Images

“He drove China and Russia together. That’s not good,” Trump continued. To counter this, the president said he wants to make sure America and Russia can work together.

Fox News White House correspondent Edward Lawrence reported that a significant chunk of the meeting was actually based on making business deals between Russia and the United States. This included talks about rare-Earth minerals that are in contested locations, and therefore could end up being shared by Russia and the U.S. in a future trade deal.

After rating the meeting with Putin a “10 out of 10,” Trump said there were two “pretty significant items” that could be reached between the Russians and Ukrainians.

Hannity presented possible concessions that he felt Ukraine likely needed to make in order for Russia to accept peace, which included “land swaps,” meaning “there will be more Russian territory than there had been,” as well as “security measures” for Ukraine that will not rely on NATO.

Trump replied that those points were in fact negotiated, and were also “largely” agreed upon.

“Now it is really up to President Zelenskyy to get it done,” Trump added, saying that he wanted to attend a meeting between the two foreign leaders out of necessity, not desire.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!