World

Trump to Meet Next Week With Orban, Hungary’s Leader

Former President Donald J. Trump will meet privately with Viktor Orban, the prime minister of Hungary, at Mr. Trump’s club in Florida next week, according to a person briefed on the plans.

Mr. Orban is a right-wing nationalist who has waged an aggressive campaign against immigration and has declared that the West “is at war with itself.” He is a longtime ally of Mr. Trump and has close ties to the populist conservative movement in the United States.

Mr. Trump has frequently praised Mr. Orban at rallies and in speeches since leaving the White House. Their meeting, which is scheduled to take place at Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach next Friday, underscores the degree to which Mr. Trump has tried to establish himself as a sort of president-in-exile.

It comes as Mr. Trump is closing in on the Republican presidential nomination and is preparing for the general election campaign against President Biden, who has had a chilly relationship with the Hungarian prime minister.

The White House’s National Security Council said it was unaware of any plans for Mr. Orban to visit Mr. Biden on his trip.

A spokesman for Mr. Trump did not respond to an email seeking comment.

Mr. Orban has been at odds with the leaders of other NATO and European Union nations over the war in Ukraine and has been assailed by critics as steering Hungary toward authoritarianism. Like Mr. Trump, he has sometimes appeared sympathetic to or admiring of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

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