Trump jokingly suggests false flag operation against Russia

At an event with Republican National Committee donors on Saturday, former President Donald Trump joked about conducting a false flag operation against Russia, CBS News reported.

The U.S. military should "put the Chinese flag on" F-22 stealth fighters, "bomb the s--t," out of Russia, "say, 'China did it, we didn't do it, China did it,'" and then "sit back and watch" as Russia and China "start fighting," Trump said.

In the weeks leading up to the invasion of Ukraine, intelligence analysts warned that Russia might use a false flag operation, potentially involving a staged video showing dead civilians or an attack by Russian special forces masquerading as Ukrainians, to justify war with Ukraine. Ultimately, though, Russian President Vladimir Putin did not rely on any single incident — faked or otherwise — for his casus belli.

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Trump's audience reportedly laughed at his remarks about framing China for American airstrikes against Russian targets, but there were those who took him seriously.

"Imagine someone is stupid enough to believe China would have access to our F-22 planes. Now imagine that person being the former President of America and former Commander in Chief," Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) wrote on Twitter.

At the event Saturday, Trump also called NATO a "paper tiger" and repeated his baseless claim that he was the true winner of the 2020 election.