Donald Trump: Joe Biden risked relations with Britain by removing Churchill bust from Oval Office
Joe Biden, the US President, risked relations with the UK by removing Winston Churchill's bust from the Oval Office, Donald Trump has said, as he described the wartime leader as a “very handsome man”.
Mr Trump, who was president from 2016 to 2020, also warned that China could try to invade Taiwan after the winter Olympics in Beijing in a few months' time.
In an interview with former Ukip leader Nigel Farage for GB News, Mr Trump said he had no idea that Mr Biden had removed the bust of Churchill in one of his first acts when he entered the White House earlier this year.
He said: "Why would you do that with Winston Churchill when you're trying to get along with your country? ... It is such a token, but such an important token.
"No, I had it back for my entire time I was there and - look - he was a very handsome man."
A sculpture of Churchill's head in the White House has been a bone of contention for US presidents going back to the late 1990s.
One first appeared in the Oval Office during George W Bush’s administration, having been loaned for the duration of his term as a personal gift from Tony Blair.
However, Barack Obama then replaced it with a bust of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, returning the Churchill bust to the British Embassy. That prompted Boris Johnson to blame the swap on Mr Obama’s “ancestral dislike of the British empire”.
Mr Trump then reinstated a bust of Churchill to the Oval Office in 2017, using a second bust that had previously been on show in the private residence.
Donald Trump's warning over China
Mr Trump used his interview with Mr Farage to warn that he feared China would try to take action over Taiwan.
Earlier this week, Richard Moore, the chief of MI6 warned that Beijing's growing military strength and its desire to resolve the Taiwan issue, by force if necessary, posed a serious challenge to global stability.
Mr Trump said that “there were no planes flying over Taiwan, the name wasn't even mentioned, you didn't talk about Taiwan when I was president”.
He added: “It wasn’t going to happen what they're doing now, and they wait until after the Olympics I assume and perhaps something will happen.”
Mr Trump also used the interview to accuse the Duchess of Sussex of being “disrespectful” to the Queen and the Royal family, adding that the Duke of Sussex had been “used horribly”.
Speaking about the Duchess, Mr Trump said: “I'm not a fan of hers. I wasn't from day one. I think Harry has been used horribly and I think someday he will regret it.
“I think Harry's been used and been used terribly. I think it's ruined his relationship with his family, and it hurts the Queen.”
