Trump hosts Polish president as "shadow diplomacy" strategy continues
New York, New York - Donald Trump and Polish President Andrzej Duda discussed the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East over dinner Wednesday in New York.
On a one-day break from court appearances in his hush money criminal trial, the 77-year-old hosted Duda at his Trump Tower property in Manhattan, according to his presidential campaign.
"He's done a fantastic job, and he's my friend, and we had four great years together" when the two were president at the same time, Trump said, standing alongside Duda in a video clip posted on Trump's Truth Social account.
"We may have to do it again."
The Trump campaign said in a statement that the two men discussed Duda's proposal for NATO countries to increase their target for defense spending from two percent of GDP to 3% – a frequent talking point in the ex-president's criticism of the transatlantic alliance.
"They also discussed the war between Russia and Ukraine, the conflict with Israel in the Middle East, and many other topics having to do with getting to world peace," the statement added.
Trump's reaches out to foreign leaders
When not tied up in legal proceedings, Trump has been conducting a kind of shadow diplomacy, as other countries prepare for the possibility of a second Trump presidency.
He has been taking meetings with global leaders and lashing out against the foreign policy of his November opponent, President Joe Biden.
Trump discussed NATO policy and the Ukraine war with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron last week, and entertained Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban at his Florida residence Mar-a-Lago last month.
Cover photo: MICHAEL M. SANTIAGO / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / GETTY IMAGES VIA AFP