Trump Claims Word 'Nuclear' Was 'Never Mentioned' During His Administration, Believes He's A 'Peacemaker'

Former President Donald Trump claimed the word "nuclear" was never uttered in his administration, according to a campaign video posted Wednesday.

In the video, Trump also championed himself as the "peacemaker" who needs to be sitting in the White House in what appeared to be a reference to his bid for the presidency in the 2024 election.

"The word nuclear was never even mentioned during the Trump administration. Now it's being mentioned every hour of every day," Trump said in the video.

"We need a statesman and a peacemaker in the White House, not someone who recites mindless and recycled talking points to win approval," he added.

The latter statement was likely a reference to his potential 2024 rival for the GOP presidential nomination, Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., who recently called Russian President Vladimir Putin a "war criminal" and condemned Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

"I think he's hostile to the United States, but I think the thing that we've seen is he doesn't have the conventional capability to realize his ambitions," DeSantis said of Putin during a Fox Nation interview with Piers Morgan. "And so, he's basically a gas station with a bunch of nuclear weapons and one of the things we could be doing better is utilizing our own energy resources in the US."

In response, Trump defended Putin and condemned DeSantis' comments as "simple-minded thinking" that he claimed ultimately leads to war.

Trump's campaign video comes as he remains the top choice for the 2024 GOP presidential nominee, according to a Fox News national survey. Trump is leading other potential Republican nominees with 54% of the votes, followed by DeSantis with 24% and former Vice President Mike Pence with 6%. Trump's poll numbers increased by 11% from last month while DeSantis' numbers fell by 4%.

While Trump continues to lead the outlet's national surveys, DeSantis has been favored by the voters as their second choice for the 2024 GOP nomination.

Trump is currently facing a lawsuit in New York on potential violations of federal campaign finance laws over his role in the hush money payments made to former porn actor Stormy Daniels with whom he allegedly had an affair in 2006. It is unclear if the grand jury will go for a criminal indictment against Trump as they would not be reconvening until April 24, a source told CNN.