“Israel would be in big trouble without Saudi Arabia,” Trump told reporters at the time from his Mar-a-Lago resort home in Florida.
During the wide-ranging interview, Trump also threatened to cancel an upcoming meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the captureof three Ukrainian ships and their crew in the Black Sea this week.
Ukraine’s parliament voted Monday to impose martial law in parts of the country to fight what its president called “growing aggression” from Moscow, after the weekend naval clash off the disputed Crimean Peninsula, in which Russia fired on and seized three Ukrainian vessels, amid renewed tensions between the neighbors.
Western leaders and diplomats have urged both sides to deescalate the conflict, and the US has blamed Russia for what it called “unlawful conduct” over Sunday’s incident in the Black Sea.
Trump said he was awaiting a “full report” by his national security team on the matter: “That will be very determinative. Maybe I won’t have the meeting.”
“I don’t like that aggression,” he added. “I don’t want that aggression at all. Absolutely. And by the way, Europe shouldn’t like that aggression. And Germany shouldn’t like that aggression.”
The US president reiterated his rejection of a federal government reportreleased last week that concluded that damage from global warming was intensifying, saying he does not believe the scientific consensus that the crisis is man-made.
“One of the problems [is] that a lot of people like myself, we have very high levels of intelligence, but we’re not necessarily such believers,” Trump told the Washington Post. “You look at our air and our water, and it’s right now at a record clean.”
Much of the interview was dedicated to Trump’s criticism of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, nominated by the president last year. Trump said he was “not even a little bit happy with my selection” so far, but the report detailed an unorthodox reason for his decision not to reappoint predecessor Janet Yellen — her height.
The 5-foot-3-inch (160-centimeter) economist, who is Jewish, is “not tall enough” to lead the country’s central bank, Trump told aides on the National Economic Council on several occasions, the newspaper said, citing current and former officials. The officials said Trump had also asked them whether they agreed with his opinion on her height.
Times of Israel staff and agencies contributed to this report.
Source:.timesofisrael.com
