In early July 2025, an audio recording circulated online that purportedly documented U.S. President Donald Trump saying that he had threatened to "bomb the s*** out of Moscow" and Beijing. The clip was reportedly taped at a private fundraiser meeting during his 2024 presidential campaign.
For example, on July 9, Telegram-based Belarusian news outlet Nexta shared a clip of a CNN broadcast featuring the audio. In the caption, Nexta transcribed parts of what Trump allegedly said, which included him threatening Russian President Vladimir Putin that he would bomb Moscow if Russia invaded Ukraine and warning Chinese President Xi Jinping that he would do the same to Beijing if China invaded Taiwan (archived).
The full transcript of the alleged Trump recording was as follows:
With Putin I said, "If you go into Ukraine, I'm gonna bomb the s*** out of Moscow. I'm telling you, I have no choice." … So he goes like, "I don't believe you." He said, "No way," and I said, "Way." And then he goes like, "I don't believe you." But the truth is he believed me 10%. And I told you this, he believed me 10%. Then I'm with President Xi of China. But I said the same thing to them, I said "You know, if you go into Taiwan I'm gonna bomb the s*** out of Beijing." He thought I was crazy, he said, "Beijing?! You're gonna bomb …?" I said, "I have no choice. I got to bomb you. We're gonna bomb Bei--." And he didn't believe me either. He said 10%. And 10% is all you need. In fact, 5% would have been OK too. And we never had a problem. We would have never had a problem.
Nexta's post had amassed more than 135,000 views as of this writing. The claim and audio also appeared on Reddit, TikTok and Facebook — including on the page of TRT World, an English-language news channel run by the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation.
Although the audio did not show signs of being created using artificial-intelligence software, it was not possible for Snopes to independently verify its veracity. Therefore, we have not applied a rating to this claim.
Here's the context
The alleged recording was released on July 8, 2025, to correspond with the publication of a book titled "2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America," written by journalists Josh Dawsey of The Wall Street Journal, Tyler Pager of The New York Times and Isaac Arnsdorf of The Washington Post. The trio reportedly obtained the audio while researching and writing the book.
The footage Nexta shared, which included the audio in question, came from a 10-minute segment featuring CNN's Kaitlan Collins, during which she spoke with the book's authors. After she played the clip, she discussed the significance of Trump's purported words with her guests.
Responding to Collins, Dawsey explained (at 2:55): "What you see in that tape is Trump behind closed doors to his richest donors in New York, telling them, you know, 'I had control over these guys,' basically espousing the madman theory, right? 'They thought I was just crazy enough that maybe I would have done something if they crossed me. And I use that to basically get them to do what I wanted them to do.'"
Multiple news media outlets reported that Trump was referring to conversations he had with Putin and Xi during his first term in office. However, it was not possible to independently verify when these alleged discussions took place.
Snopes contacted the White House asking whether it could confirm if Trump said these words. In her response, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly did not confirm or deny that he made the statement:
As President Trump has said time and again, Russia never dared invade Ukraine when he was in office. It happened only when Biden was in office. Thanks to this President's leadership, America is once again the leader of the free world, and peace through strength is restored. President Trump won on an America First agenda, and he is working hard to implement the mandate the American people gave him.
Snopes asked Kelly once again to confirm the veracity of the audio. Further, we asked in what way "peace through strength" had been "restored" in light of ongoing conflicts around the world. We will update this report should she reply.