When pressed as to why he believed Putin’s claim, Trump blamed it on a lack of information available at the time. 

“Why did you believe Putin in that moment?” Trump was asked.

“Cause nobody knew at that moment,” Trump said. “That was the first I heard about it.”

“He said that his house was attacked,” Trump added. “We don’t believe that happened, now that we’ve been able to check. But that was the first we ever heard about it.”

It was a reversal of Trump’s claims from the end of last month, when, on Dec. 29, Trump believed Putin’s claim and expressed displeasure upon first hearing about the alleged attack. As the Washington Examiner previously reported, Trump was critical of the reported attacks at the time.

“I don’t like it,” Trump said at the time while at his Mar-a-Lago residence during meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “It’s not good. I heard about it this morning. You know who told me about it? President Putin told me about it — early in the morning, he said he was attacked. It’s no good. It’s no good.”

The Kremlin claimed 91 drones were used in a military operation in Russia’s Novgorod region that was ultimately thwarted by Russia’s defense systems, the Associated Press reported. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov blasted Ukraine for the attack, lamenting the operation as the two countries were engaged in negotiations to end the war. 

“Such reckless actions will not go unanswered,” Lavrov said. “Targets for retaliatory strikes and the timing of their execution by the Russian Armed Forces have been determined.”

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky always denied reports of the attack. He criticized Russia for using it as a fabricated distraction to derail peace negotiations between the two countries. He called reports of the attack “typical Russian lies.”

RUSSIA OVEREXTENDS ITS DECEPTION FETISH WITH INVENTED UKRAINIAN ATTACK ON PUTIN

“This alleged ‘residence strike’ story is a complete fabrication intended to justify additional attacks against Ukraine, including Kyiv, as well as Russia’s own refusal to take necessary steps to end the war,” Zelensky said in a social media post at the time. “Typical Russian lies. Furthermore, the Russians have already targeted Kyiv in the past, including the Cabinet of Ministers building.”

“Ukraine does not take steps that can undermine diplomacy,” Zelensky added. “To the contrary, Russia always takes such steps. This is one of many differences between us. It is critical that the world doesn’t stay silent now. We cannot allow Russia to undermine the work on achieving a lasting peace.”