U.S. President Joe Biden has again taken credit for Japan’s historic 2022 defense budget hike, saying in an interview Friday that he had pushed Tokyo to boost its spending.
Speaking in a prime-time interview with ABC News intended to mitigate the fallout from a poor debate performance last week that has raised questions about his reelection bid, Biden listed off, in rapid-fire, a number of claimed accomplishments under his administration.
“I'm the guy that put NATO together, the future — no one thought I could expand it,” he said. “I'm the guy that shut (Russian President Vladimir) Putin down. No one thought it could happen. I’m the guy that put together the South Pacific initiative with AUKUS. I'm the guy that got 50 nations out of — not only Europe, outside of Europe as well — to help Ukraine. I'm the guy that got the Japanese to expand their budget.”
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