Trump accused of pledging 'fealty' in meeting with Vladimir Putin

During an MSNBC "Morning Joe" segment on how closely the future of Ukraine is tied to the election of either Vice President Kamala Harris or Donald Trump in November, co-host Joe Scarborough accused the former president of being in the pocket of Russian strongman Vladimir Putin.

After sharing clips of Trump disparaging Ukraine for fighting back against the Russian invasion and claiming the war "didn't need to happen," The MSNBC host took his shot at the former president by citing a secretive and controversial meeting between Trump and Putin in 2018.

With Trump reportedly planning on meeting with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday at Trump Tower, Scarborough told his panel, "Vladimir Putin invaded Georgia in 2008; a Republican president did nothing. Vladimir Putin invaded Crimea and Ukraine in 2014; a Democratic president did nothing. Vladimir Putin in 2018 basically got Donald Trump to pledge his fealty to him in Helsinki."

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"One president after another has shown weakness and what has that led to?" he asked. "Well, it led to another invasion. The United States is finally pushing back after 15 years of invasion — it's just very obvious. If Donald Trump is elected and surrenders Ukraine to Vladimir Putin, Poland is next. "Moldova is next. Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania — those states are going to fall in no time."

"And yes, when they're invading NATO countries, it's going to be U.S. troops on the ground fighting and dying," he pointed out. "Right now, a million Russian casualties without one American casualty. I don't understand what Donald Trump does not get about this."

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