"‘If It Weren't for Me, There Would Have Been a Nuclear War,’ Trump Boasts During Trial"

Testimony in New York State Financial Fraud Civil Lawsuit
"If We Hadn't Dealt with North Korea, Nuclear Massacre Would Have Occurred"
Firm Denial of Charges: "I'm Not Involved"

Former President Donald Trump claimed during his testimony in a financial fraud civil lawsuit that if he had not responded to North Korea during his tenure, a 'nuclear disaster' would have occurred.

According to a report by the New York Times (NYT) on the 31st of last month (local time), the transcript of Trump's civil lawsuit testimony released that day included the statement, "If I had not dealt with North Korea, a 'nuclear holocaust' would have happened."

Trump also emphasized again, saying, "If I had not been elected, a nuclear war would be happening now," adding, "That is the truth." This remark was made during a sworn testimony conducted in April.

Former President Donald Trump [Image source=AP Yonhap News]

The statement came as Trump explained that he was not very involved with the Trump Organization while serving as president. He described his presidential duties as "the most important work that saved millions of lives," emphasizing, "I was busy."

He also mentioned his sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump. He claimed, "They became increasingly involved in the company’s affairs," and "I was actually not involved at all."

In June 2018, Trump held the first-ever North Korea?U.S. summit in Singapore and met face-to-face with Kim Jong-un, Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of North Korea. He has repeatedly asserted that thanks to the U.S. policy toward North Korea at that time, the threat of nuclear war was averted.

Additionally, after North Korea was elected as an executive board member of the World Health Organization (WHO), Trump faced criticism within the Republican Party for publicly sending a congratulatory message to Kim Jong-un in early June.

Meanwhile, the state of New York filed a lawsuit alleging that Trump and his children committed financial fraud by inflating the value of assets of the Trump Organization. According to the New York State Attorney General’s office, the Trump family is accused of undervaluing real estate to pay less tax and, conversely, inflating asset values during bank loan processes to gain unfair benefits.

Documents submitted by prosecutors to the court indicate that Trump inflated his assets by approximately $2.2 billion (about 2.91 trillion KRW) in 2014, and through this, obtained unfair benefits from lenders and insurers over about ten years from 2011 to 2021.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.