President Trump claimed that he is preventing Hong Kong from being "obliterated" by China, saying that he told Chinese President Xi Jinping not to send soldiers into Hong Kong because it would affect ongoing trade negotiations with the U.S.
"If it weren't for me, Hong Kong would've been obliterated in 14 minutes," Trump said in a wide-ranging interview with "Fox & Friends" on Friday morning. He added that Xi has "got a million soldiers standing outside of Hong Kong that aren't going in only because I asked him, 'Please don't do that, it's going to make a tremendous negative impact on the trade deal.'"