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Did Donald Trump take credit for blowing up the Nord Stream pipeline? No, that’s misconstrued
If Your Time is short
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During the Sept. 10 presidential debate, when former President Donald Trump said, "I ended the Nord Stream 2 pipeline," he referred to sanctions he signed while in office that affected the project’s completion, not a 2022 attack that damaged the pipeline.
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A Trump campaign spokesperson called the claim "absolutely false and insane."
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Germany continues its investigation into the attack and in June issued an arrest warrant for a Ukrainian man suspected of being involved.
Two years after an attack on the Nord Stream Pipeline, the culprit remains unknown. But social media users say that during the Sept. 10 presidential debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump let slip who it is.
"Who blew up the Nord Stream Pipeline?! Donald Trump reveals who he thinks the culprit is," read a Sept. 12 Instagram video’s text. The video included two clips of Trump, one from a 2023 interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, and the other from the presidential debate.
The Instagram video begins with a clip from Carlson’s Fox News interview that aired April 12.
Carlson: Who blew up the Nord Stream pipeline?
Trump: Um, I don’t wanna get our country in trouble, so I won’t answer it. But I can tell you who it wasn’t, was Russia. How about when they blamed Russians, you know? They said Russia blew up their own pipeline. You got a kick out of that one, too. It wasn’t Russia. So I won’t answer the question ‘cause I don’t wanna get our country any deeper than they already are."
The Instagram video then cut to Trump at the debate saying, "He said ‘Russia was afraid of him.’ I ended the Nord Stream 2 pipeline."
"Oops! This guy just told on himself during the debate!," the video’s caption read. "So if anybody was wondering who took out the Nordstrom two pipeline. You don't have to wonder anymore."
(Screenshot from Instagram)
The post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook,Instagram and Threads.)
When PolitiFact reached out to Trump’s campaign about this claim, Karoline Leavitt, the campaign’s national press secretary, called it "absolutely false and insane."
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Nord Stream 1 and 2 are natural gas pipelines that run hundreds of miles from Russia to Germany. In September 2022, explosions damaged three out of four gas links of the pipelines, leaking methane into the atmosphere.
Trump’s comment that he "ended the Nord Stream 2 pipeline" referred to how he imposed 2019 sanctions that affected the pipeline’s construction, which continued during the Biden administration until its 2021 completion.
Alex Pfeiffer, a Trump campaign team member, also referred PolitiFact to a 2019 Atlantic Council article about Trump imposing sanctions that halted the completion of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
Ending the pipeline is a familiar talking point for Trump. In the same April 2023 interview with Carlson, Trump also said, "I had that pipeline stopped, Nord Stream 2. I had it stopped. Totally stopped! When Biden came in, he approved it, and they immediately started the finishing action."
And in a May 31 press conference, Trump said, "You take a look at the way (President Joe Biden) treats China, Russia, so many others. You know, I ended the Russian pipeline. It was dead. He comes in and he approves it."
Leavitt pointed to 2019 sanctions Trump signed that impacted companies that helped Russia complete the pipeline and prompted a Swiss company to exit the project. Leavitt said Biden and Harris removed those sanctions in 2021, enabling Russia to finish the pipeline’s construction.
But experts told PolitiFact the sanctions only delayed the construction. Ninety percent of the pipeline had already been completed at the time.
Germany continues its investigation into the attack and in June issued an arrest warrant for a Ukrainian man who is suspected of being involved in the attack. The United States denied Russia’s accusations that it was responsible.
An Instagram video said Trump admitted during the Sept. 10 presidential debate that he "blew up the Nord Stream pipeline."
Trump referred to sanctions he signed that led to a pause in the project, not to the attack that damaged the pipeline. We rate that claim Pants on Fire!
RELATED: Burgum exaggerates Biden actions on Nord Stream 2, natural gas exports
RELATED: Kayleigh McEnany spins comparison of Trump, Biden on Russian gas pipeline
Our Sources
Instagram post (archived), Sept. 12, 2024
Email exchange with Karoline Leavitt, Trump campaign national press secretary, Sept. 12, 2024
Email exchange with Alex Pfeiffer, Trump campaign team member, Sept. 12, 2024
ABC News, DEBATE REPLAY: VP Harris and former President Trump l ABC News Presidential Debate, Sept. 11, 2024
C-SPAN, Former President Trump Press Conference Following Guilty Verdict, May 31, 2024
Internet Archive, Tucker Carlson Tonight, April 11, 2023
Internet Archive, Tucker Carlson Tonight, April 12, 2023
Atlantic Council, Trump blocks Putin’s pipeline with US sanctions, Dec. 22, 2019
PolitiFact, Live: Fact-checking Kamala Harris and Donald Trump’s first 2024 presidential debate, Sept. 10, 2024
PolitiFact, Burgum exaggerates Biden actions on Nord Stream 2, natural gas exports, June 17, 2024
PolitiFact, Kayleigh McEnany spins comparison of Trump, Biden on Russian gas pipeline, Feb. 9, 2022
PolitiFact, Fact-checking Donald Trump’s Fox News town hall with Sean Hannity, Sept. 5, 2024
CNN, What is Nord Stream 2 and can Biden kill it?, Feb. 8, 2022
CNN, Gas is pouring out of the Nord Stream pipelines. Here’s what you need to know, Sept. 28, 2022
CNN, US and Germany reach deal on controversial pipeline that Biden sees as a Russian ‘geopolitical project’, July 21, 2021
Axios, Scoop: Biden to waive sanctions on company in charge of Nord Stream 2, May 18, 2021
NBC News, Biden under fire from Congress for waiving sanctions on Russian gas pipeline company, May 19, 2021
The Washington Post, Who blew up the Nord Stream pipelines? What we know one year later., Sept. 25, 2023
BBC, Nord Stream 2: Trump approves sanctions on Russia gas pipeline, Dec. 21, 2019
Reuters, Russia completes Nord Stream 2 construction, gas flows yet to start, Sept. 10, 2021
Reuters, Kremlin says Germany is right to fully investigate Nord Stream pipeline blasts, Sept. 9, 2024
The New York Times, Germany Issues Arrest Warrant for Ukrainian Over Nord Stream Explosion, Aug. 14, 2024
Al Jazeera, Russia’s Lavrov says ‘clear’ that US ordered 2022 Nord Stream blasts, Aug. 19, 2024
Al Jazeera, Putin calls Ukraine role in Nord Stream blasts ‘sheer nonsense’, March 15, 2023
Reuters, Russia diplomat says Ukraine wouldn't have attacked Nord Stream without US approval, Aug. 16, 2024
Reuters, Nord Stream: What's known about the mystery pipeline explosions?, Feb. 7, 2024
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Did Donald Trump take credit for blowing up the Nord Stream pipeline? No, that’s misconstrued
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