Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin were both missing from the BRICS summit that kicked off Sunday in Rio de Janeiro, hosted by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. According to Bloomberg, neither leader showed up,

Key Points and Summary - CNN has obtained audio from a 2024 fundraiser in which Donald Trump claims he once threatened to "bomb the **** out of Moscow" to deter a Russian invasion of Ukraine. -In the recording, Trump recounts telling Vladimir Putin he would have "no choice" but to attack the Russian capital, a threat he also allegedly made to Chinese President Xi Jinping regarding Taiwan. -The Kremlin has cast doubt on the report's veracity, while the White House has not denied its authenticity. -The leak adds another layer of complexity to the already fraught relationship between Trump and Putin. Bomb Moscow - What CNN Is Reporting  The relationship between Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin was further complicated this week after CNN obtained audio that they claim proves the U.S. president threatened to “bomb the **** out of Moscow” to prevent new attacks on Ukraine. According to CNN, the president told a private gathering of donors during his 2024 presidential campaign that he once sought to deter Russia from attacking Ukraine by launching military strikes against Russia. “With Putin I said, ‘If you go into Ukraine, I’m going to bomb the **** out of Moscow. I’m telling you I have no choice,’” Trump reportedly told the gathering. Trump then allegedly said that Putin told him, “I don’t believe you.” China Also Should Worry  The president also reportedly made a similar threat to Chinese President Xi Jinping as part of an effort to prevent an invasion of Taiwan. Trump said Xi “thought I was crazy,” but suggested that the threats worked. In response to the reports, the Kremlin said that the veracity of the claim could not be confirmed. Dmitry Peskov, arguably the most publicly aggressive Kremlin spokesman, said that “there were no telephone conversations” at the time Trump claims he made the threat. “After all, we are talking, as far as I understand, about the period when Trump was not yet the president of the United States.” Did It Happen?  The White House did not deny the existence of the recording, or that the president made the comments, simply stating that “Russia never dared invade Ukraine” when Trump was in office. While Russia for clear reasons, would like to forget the issue, the president’s former attorney Rudy Giuliani recounted similar threats allegedly made to Putin during an interview with Newsmax in 2022. According to Giuliani, Trump threatened to bomb churches in Moscow if Russia invaded Ukraine. Headlines at the time heavily suggested that the president deliberately threatened Christian churches, but Giuliani’s comments told a different story. “So, he has a meeting with Putin and he tells him, they’re talking about Ukraine and he says, ‘Vladimir, you shouldn’t, like, attack Ukraine, ‘cause then I’m gonna…well, I never liked those big…what are those things you’ve got in Moscow? Those big bubbles, those big gold bubbles. I never liked those things. So I’m going to have to blow them up.” Giuliani then described how Putin told Trump that they were churches, to which the president responded, “Oh Vladimir. Don’t tell me that about churches. Oh, come on. Churches? You can fool Bush, you can’t fool me. Churches, you care about churches?” What Does This Mean?  It’s unclear whether the comments Giuliani alleges Trump made are the same as those referenced in the audio obtained by CNN - but if they are, it could suggest two things. It could mean that Peskov wasn’t aware of the threats. After all, Peskov is often described as an attack dog for the Kremlin rather than a close adviser to the Russian president. Alternatively, it could indicate that Moscow doesn’t want to admit that the threats were made, or that Putin may have refrained from invading Ukraine during the first Trump administration over fears that he wasn’t bluffing. About the Author: Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society. His latest book is The Truth Teller: RFK Jr. and the Case for a Post-Partisan Presidency. The Best Tanks on Earth AbramsX: The Tank the US Army Wants  M1 Abrams: The Best Tank On Earth? Challenger 3: The British Army's New Super Tank  Please follow National Security Journal on MSN for the latest news in defense, foreign policy, economics, and politics with a bipartisan twist.

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Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin missed the 17th BRICS Summit in Brazil. Xi sent PM Li Qiang to attend the talks in Rio de Janeiro