Biden calls Trumps pressure on Ukraine modern-day appeasement in 1st post-presidential interview [Video]

LONDON (AP) — Joe Biden said in his first post-presidential interview that President Donald Trump’s pressure on Ukraine to give up territory to Russia amounts to “ modern-day appeasement,” a historically fraught term that refers to a failed effort to stop the Nazis from annexing land in Europe in the 1930s.

Biden told BBC Radio 4’s “Today” program in remarks aired Wednesday that Trump’s statements about acquiring Panama, Greenland and Canada have bred distrust of the United States in Europe.

“What president ever talks like that?” Biden said. “That’s not who we are. We’re about freedom, democracy, opportunity — not about confiscation.”

He also said it was a “difficult decision” to leave the U.S. presidential race in 2024 four months from Election Day to allow former Vice President Kamala Harris to challenge Trump. But, he added, making that move earlier as some critics had suggested “would(n’t) have mattered.”

The term appeasement refers to former British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s efforts in the …