Bill Clinton says Trump has ‘abandoned Ukraine’ and embraced Putin again, accusing him of treating U.S. allies ‘like dirt’
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton accused President Donald Trump of abandoning Ukraine and moving closer to Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying Washington was damaging relationships with its traditional allies.
“I’m tired of the way we treat our allies like dirt,” Clinton said Tuesday at a campaign event for Florida Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Jolly in Pembroke Pines. “Just this last week, Trump has finally done what he’s threatened to do since he ran the first time, which is to abandon Ukraine and embrace Putin all over again.”
Trump has recently increased pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to reach a settlement with Russia, while his administration has pursued renewed talks with Moscow and an energy deal involving Russian diesel. The U.S. continues to provide some intelligence and military support to Ukraine.
Clinton also defended Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, a longtime acquaintance, calling him “about the most well-qualified leader in the world” and pointing to his previous leadership of the Bank of Canada and Bank of England. Clinton criticized Trump’s repeated suggestions that Canada should become the 51st U.S. state.
He also condemned attacks on Muslims as a group, saying extremists existed in every faith and recalling that his daughter Chelsea had encouraged him as a teenager to read a passage from the Quran about different peoples coming to know one another.
Turning to domestic politics, Clinton mocked Trump’s pursuit of the Nobel Peace Prize. “Donald Trump’s slogan ought to be, ‘The sun came up this morning. Where’s my Nobel Prize?’” he said.
Clinton also argued that Republican economic claims did not add up, recalling that when people asked how his administration balanced the federal budget, his answer was simply: “Arithmetic.”
The appearance was Clinton’s first public campaign event of the 2026 midterm cycle and came as Democrats seek to make Florida’s gubernatorial contest between Jolly and Republican Byron Donalds competitive.