Live: Donald Trump wades into General Election debate in Nigel Farage interview
US President Donald Trump has waded into the UK General Election in typical style, saying Jeremy Corbyn would be “so bad” for Britain.
Read more: General Election: Jeremy Corbyn pledges to go after ‘greedy bankers’
In an interview with Brexit party leader Nigel Farage on London’s LBC radio, the President said: “Your country has tremendous potential. It’s a great country.”
Yet he warned that a Labour government under Corbyn would “take you on such a bad way. He’d take you into such bad places”.
The interview, which aired at 6pm tonight, came hours after the US House of Representatives voted to move on to the next stage of its impeachment inquiry into Trump’s dealings with Ukraine.
His intervention into UK politics will prove controversial. Former US President Barack Obama’s 2016 comment that Brexit would leave the UK at the “back of the queue” for a trade deal with the US caused a furore during the European Union referendum.
In the LBC interview, a snippet of which was released early, Trump told Farage that the US wants to strike a post-Brexit trade deal with the UK.
Read more: Harry Dunn’s family sues administration of US President Donald Trump
“We can do many times the numbers that we’re doing right now,” the President said, “and certainly much bigger numbers than you’re doing under the European Union.”
Live: Donald Trump’s interview
18.05pm
Trump says he is disappointed the UK has not left the EU. “I think it’s a good thing for the UK,” he says.
18.07pm
Trump says Boris Johnson has spoken to him about the difficulties of thrashing out a Brexit deal.
“We want to do trade with UK, and they want to do trade with us,” Trump says, but he casts doubt on whether Johnson’s Brexit deal will let a trade deal be signed.
“Boris wants to be very careful with that,” Trump says.
18.08pm
The US President says Johnson and Farage should “get together” in a General Election pact.
“I’d like to see you and Boris get together because you would really have some numbers,” he says. “He respects you a lot, I can tell you that.”
Trump adds: “I wish you two guys could get together, I think it would be a great thing.”
18.10pm
Trump says a trade deal between the UK and the US would not involve the NHS. “It’s not for us to have anything to do with your healthcare system,” he says.
Trump says he just wants to focus on trade. He says Britain’s trade with the US could be four to five times higher than it is now.
The President says he thinks Corbyn started rumours that the NHS would be involved in a trade deal.
Trump adds that he thinks he “really hit it off” with the Queen on his state visit.
He also says he likes Prince Charles. “He loves the environment,” he says.
18.12pm
Farage asks the President what he thinks of Meghan Markle’s relationship with the press. Trump says he does not have a lot to add, but says he “really” likes Prince Harry.
Trump expands on his relationship with the Royal family. He repeats that they “really hit it off”. He said he had “really an incredible evening” during the state visit.
18.14pm
The conversation turns to security. Trump says the European Union is not paying its way in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato). “There are right now in Nato 20 countries that are delinquent, meaning they owe a lot of money. Germany is number one,” he says.
“There’s a lot of difficulty with that whole situation,” Trump says. He adds that countries such as Germany are “taking advantage of the United States”.
Read more: Donald Trump claims a political victory as Isis leader al-Baghdadi killed in US raid
18.17pm
Trump says he liked Theresa May, but “did not agree with her on certain things”. He says: “I told her exactly how to make the deal, but she didn’t listen to me.”
He says Johnson listens to him. “Boris and I have a great relationship.” He says: “It was time for Boris, I think you needed him.”
Farage tries to persuade Trump to pressure Johnson into heading for a no-deal Brexit.
18.19pm
Conversation turns to the recent death of Isis commander Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Trump says al-Baghdadi was “a coward” who died “a very rough death”. He says US forces “broke through like they were dealing with children” during the operation to kill al-Baghdadi. “He died whimpering and crying,” Trump says.
Trump says he did “a world favour, not just a US favour”.
18.22pm
Farage moves the conversation on to the death of Harry Dunn in a road accident in the UK this summer after colliding with the car of Anne Sacoolas, the wife of a US military official. Sacoolas fled to the US.
Farage asks whether Sacoolas could come back to the UK to face trial. “I’ll have to see what the final facts are,” Trump says.
18.24pm
Trump says allegations that he abused his power to get dirt on political rival Joe Biden are “totally false”.
He says there was nothing untoward about his phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which the allegations centre around.
“What’s a high crime and misdemeanour when you have a very appropriate conversation? Fortunately we’ve got the transcript,” Trump says.
“The Democrats have got nothing,” Trump says. “We call them the do-nothing Democrats.”
Trump says he did not have “one negative Republican vote” in the House of Representatives today. The House voted to press on with its impeachment inquiry.
Trump says people say he is a “very intelligent person”. He asks why an intelligent person would try to pressure a foreign power into helping him in an election.
Read more: Brexit party leader Nigel Farage will run for Commons seat at General Election
18.27pm
Trump says he might have to face Elizabeth Warren in the 2020 presidential election.
He says it could be Bernie Sanders, but says Sanders “looks shot”.
18.30pm
Turning back to UK politics, Trump says: “Corbyn would be so bad for your country, he’d be so bad, he’d take you on such a bad way. He’d take you into such bad places.”
He says he thinks Brexit will have happened before the November 2020 presidential election next year. He says people are “sick” of hearing about Brexit, and the interview ends.
(Image credit: Getty)