Trump says his presidency went ‘decades’ without war when he was in office for four years

Comment comes as Trump announces his candidacy for president in Florida

Donald Trump, declaring his candidacy for president on Tuesday night at Mar-a-Lago, claimed that he went “decades without a war” despite the fact that he only served as president for four years.

“I’ve gone decades, decades without a war, the first president to do it for a long period,” Mr Trump, who lost his re-election to president Joe Biden two years ago, said in his announcement speech.

Mr Trump hit out at Mr Biden and also criticised Republicans not aligned with his far right, election-denying movement despite the party’s underperformance in the recent midterm elections in which Trump-aligned Republicans accounted for a number of high-profile losses.

Mr Trump is attempting to become just the second-ever person to serve two non-consecutive terms as president and the first since the 1800s. He is apparently seeking a democratic return to power while still under investigation for his attempt to overturn the result of the election.

The New York Times reported that Mr Trump’s decision to launch his campaign so soon after the midterms and nearly two full years before the presidential election was in part influenced by his hope that his status as a candidate will shield him from legal trouble stemming from his conduct during his first term as president.

Mr Trump is currently the subject of two separate investigations from the Department of Justice. He has also been subpoenaed to testify before the congressional committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot.