Trump ‘offered Kim Jong-un a ride on Air Force One’ after Hanoi summit

  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
Namita Singh
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
<p>File Image: In this handout photo provided by Vietnam News Agency, US president Donald Trump (R) and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (L) during their second summit meeting at the Sofitel Legend Metropole hotel on 28 February, 2019 in Hanoi, Vietnam</p> (Getty Images)

File Image: In this handout photo provided by Vietnam News Agency, US president Donald Trump (R) and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (L) during their second summit meeting at the Sofitel Legend Metropole hotel on 28 February, 2019 in Hanoi, Vietnam

(Getty Images)

Former US President Donald Trump had reportedly offered North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un a lift home on the Air Force One after a summit in Hanoi in 2019, according to a new BBC documentary.

Mr Trump’s meetings with Mr Kim were among the most eye-catching moments of his presidency, culminating in the former president declaring his love for the North Korean leader after a summit in Singapore in 2018.

He told a crowd at a campaign rally: “He wrote me beautiful letters and they’re great letters. We fell in love.”

But no substantive progress was made after their meeting in Hanoi in 2019 and the discussion was stalled as the US refused to lift sanctions until North Korea abandoned its nuclear programme. According to a BBC documentary, "Trump Takes on the World", the US president "stunned even the most seasoned diplomats" by offering the North Korea dictator a ride home on the official presidential aircraft after the summit in Vietnam.

“President Trump offered Kim a lift home on Air Force One,” Matthew Pottinger, the top Asia expert on Mr Trump’s National Security Council, told the BBC. “The president knew that Kim had arrived on a multi-day train ride through China into Hanoi and the president said: ‘I can get you home in two hours if you want.’ Kim declined.”

According to the documentary, that was not the only time when the then-US president shocked his team with the grand gesture. The BBC reported that Mr Trump also agreed to Mr Kim’s request to cancel joint military exercises between the US and South Korea.

“Kim Jong-un, as he had many times in the past, complained about the big joint exercises between South Korea and American forces, which had been going on on the Korean peninsula for about 60 years plus,” former national security adviser, John Bolton told the BBC.

“Trump, out of nowhere, said, ‘I’m going to cancel the war games [as he called them]. There’s no need for them, they’re expensive and it will make you happy.’ I couldn’t believe it,” said Mr Bolton.

He added that he was sitting with secretary of state Mike Pompeo and the then-chief of staff John Kelly, who were not consulted. “It was a concession for which we got nothing in return,” he was quoted as saying by the BBC.

Read More

After Trump setbacks, Kim Jong Un starts over with Biden OLD

Kim Jong-un vows to improve North Korea’s ties with rest of world

What next for North Korea? Kim Jong-un set to be an early foreign policy headache for Joe Biden

Recommended Stories

  • Trump offered Kim Jong Un a ride home on Air Force One after their 2nd summit, new series finds

    President Donald Trump reportedly knew Kim Jong Un had traveled to their summit in Vietnam by train so offered to take him home on Air Force One.

  • Trump Reportedly Made A Bonkers Air Force One Offer To Kim Jong Un

    Trump's aides were "stunned" by the offer to the North Korean dictator.

  • Merrick Garland to answer for Biden on key Trump questions: The Note

    On Monday, it falls to Judge Merrick Garland to start to answer them. Biden's nominee for attorney general faces questions before the Senate Judiciary Committee on cases and topics that are largely inherited but no less relevant because of that. Garland himself is cognizant of the larger significance of the moment, even leaving aside the off fact that this same committee refused to even consider his nomination to the Supreme Court five years ago.

  • Scotland vaccinations lead to sharp drop in hospitalizations

    Scotland’s COVID-19 vaccination program has led to a sharp drop in hospitalizations, researchers said Monday, boosting hopes that the shots will work as well in the real world as they have in carefully controlled studies. The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine reduced hospital admissions by up to 94% four weeks after people received their first dose, while the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine cut admissions by up to 85%, according to scientists at the University of Edinburgh, the University of Strathclyde and Public Health Scotland. The data was gathered between Dec. 8 and Feb. 15, a period when 21% of Scotland’s population received their first vaccine shot.

  • Buzz Aldrin on NASA rover Perseverance landing on Mars

    Apollo 11 astronaut reacts to NASA's Mars rover landing and possible manned mission to the red planet on 'Cavuto Live'

  • Italy's envoy to Congo killed in attack on U.N. convoy

    Italy's ambassador to Democratic Republic of Congo, his bodyguard and a driver from the World Food Programme were killed on Monday when their convoy was attacked in the east of the country, Italy and the United Nations said. The convoy was attacked at about 10:15 a.m. (0815 GMT) in an attempted kidnap near the town of Kanyamahoro, about 25 km (15 miles) north of the regional capital Goma, a spokesman for the Virunga National Park told Reuters. The deaths of the ambassador, Luca Attanasio, 43, Italian military policeman Vittorio Iacovacci, 30, and a Congolese driver, whose name has not been released, were confirmed by the Italian government in a statement.

  • AP PHOTOS: US pandemic toll: In 1 year, half a million lives

    Just one year ago, America had no idea. The coronavirus still felt like a foreign problem, even as U.S. authorities recorded the country’s first known death from the virus. Precisely a year later, America is hurtling toward a horrifying milestone of 500,000 deaths from COVID-19.

  • Pro-golfer Michelle Wie West condemns Rudy Giuliani for telling lewd story about her

    Michelle Wie West reacted to former mayor’s story about her ‘panties’

  • Pence Turned Down CPAC Invite: Report

    Former Vice President Mike Pence has turned down an invitation to speak at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference, according to a new report. Meanwhile, former president Donald Trump is scheduled to address the conference on February 28, according to Fox News. The event in Orlando, Florida, which begins Thursday, will mark Trump’s first major public appearance since leaving office last month. Pence reportedly holds some “bitterness” toward the former president after a mob of pro-Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol last month as Pence presided over a joint session of Congress to certify President Biden’s Electoral College win. Pence’s aides have said Trump’s failure to quell his supporters among the rioters was the “ultimate betrayal,” Fox News’ Chris Wallace reported earlier this month. However, former Pence chief of staff Marc Short reportedly said Friday that Pence and Trump are still in touch. Trump’s speech will look toward the future of the Republican Party and the conservative movement. It will also address President Biden’s “disastrous amnesty and border policies,” a source told Fox News. In a statement last week, after his impeachment acquittal, Trump reaffirmed his commitment to the “Make America Great Again” movement. “Our historic, patriotic and beautiful movement to Make America Great Again (MAGA) has only just begun,” Trump said. “In the months ahead I have much to share with you, and I look forward to continuing our incredible journey together to achieve American greatness for all of our people. There has never been anything like it!” Since leaving office, Pence has joined the Heritage Foundation as a distinguished fellow, where he will “advise Heritage experts on public policy issues,” and write a monthly column for The Daily Signal, the foundation’s media outlet. Pence also reportedly plans to form a fundraising organization dedicated to public policy.

  • Shooting at Louisiana Gun Store Leads to Multiple Deaths

    Local officials say multiple people are dead following a shooting at the Jefferson Gun Outlet after one customer got into an argument with a store clerk.

  • Colts DE Denico Autry sued after his smoking allegedly caused $30K in damages at apartment

    Denico Autry had reportedly been receiving complaints for months at his apartment complex for smoking.

  • Historic Victorian Home Rolled Along San Francisco Streets

    A historic two-story home was transported down a San Francisco street to its new address on February 21.Crowds of residents gathered to watch the home being lifted off its foundations and onto giant dollies before being rolled several city blocks from its original Franklin Street site.The home is 139 years old, according to local media, who reported the house’s journey had been in the planning stages for years. Credit: jerahcuda via Storyful

  • Italian ambassador's body believed to be at field hospital

    Luca Attanasio, 43, Italian military policeman Vittorio Iacovacci, 30, and a Congolese driver, whose name has not been released, were confirmed dead by the Italian government in a statement.They were killed on Monday when their convoy was attacked at about 10:15 a.m. (0815 GMT) in an attempted kidnap near the town of Kanyamahoro, about 25 km (15 miles) north of the regional capital Goma, a spokesman for the Virunga National Park told Reuters.The driver was working for the U.N. World Food Programme, it said in a statement, adding that a number of other passengers were injured.

  • Daniel Theis with a 2-pointer vs the New Orleans Pelicans

    Daniel Theis (Boston Celtics) with a 2-pointer vs the New Orleans Pelicans, 02/21/2021

  • Palestinian COVID vaccine plan faces large funding gap, World Bank says

    The Palestinians' COVID-19 vaccination plan faces a $30 million funding shortfall, even after factoring in support from a global vaccine scheme for poorer economies, the World Bank said in a report on Monday. Israel, a world leader in terms of vaccination speed, could perhaps consider donating surplus doses to the Palestinians to help accelerate a vaccine roll-out in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, the bank said. "In order to ensure there is an effective vaccination campaign, Palestinian and Israeli authorities should coordinate in the financing, purchase and distribution of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines," it said.

  • Transcript: John Sullivan on "Face the Nation"

    The following is a transcript of an interview with National Security Adviser John Sullivan that aired Sunday, February 21, 2021, on "Face the Nation."

  • Suspected hypothermia deaths in homes mount in Texas

    Of the around 70 deaths attributed to the snow, ice and frigid temperatures nationwide, more than a dozen were people who perished in homes that had lost their heat, and most of those were in Texas. Taylor County Sheriff Ricky Bishop said his office received many calls in recent days asking for checks on friends or family members who may be suffering due to the power outages. Hypothermia can set in if the body loses heat faster than it can produce it and if it falls below about 95 degrees Fahrenheit.

  • Dominion Voting Systems sues MyPillow Inc. CEO Mike Lindell

    Mike Lindell is accused of perpetuating a “Big Lie” about Dominion’s role in the 2020 election, including that he knowingly spread false information.

  • The FAA has closed investigations into SpaceX's explosive Starship tests, clearing the way for the launch of a new prototype, SN10

    Elon Musk said the new SpaceX Starship, SN10, had a "good chance of flying this week" after the FAA finished its investigations into previous crashes.

  • Trump plans to use his CPAC speech as a 'show of force' to exert control over the GOP, report says

    Trump plans to use his first post-presidency public speech to show what power he still has over the Republican Party, Axios reported.