Bob Woodward’s new book reveals Donald Trump’s secret dealings with Vladimir Putin

Donald Trump remained in secret contact with Vladimir Putin after leaving the White House, according to a bombshell new book lobbing four weeks before the US election.

Donald Trump sent Covid tests to Vladimir Putin for his personal use at the height of the pandemic and then secretly remained in contact with the Russian President after he left the White House.

Legendary journalist Bob Woodward lobbed the bombshell in his new book, revealing the former president had spoken to Mr Putin as many as seven times since leaving office, including while he was lobbying against military aid to Ukraine to repel Russia’s invasion.

Early this year, according to the book titled War, Mr Trump ordered an aide away from his office at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida so he could speak privately to Mr Putin.

With the US election now just four weeks away, and Mr Trump neck-and-neck with Vice President Kamala Harris, his spokesman Steven Cheung said the book “belongs in the bargain bin of the fiction section of a discount bookstore or used as toilet tissue”.

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Helsinki in 2018. Picture: Chris McGrath (Getty Images)

Mr Woodward recounted how Mr Trump sent Covid tests to Mr Putin – while they were in short supply in 2020 – as the Russian leader feared the virus and isolated himself.

“Please don’t tell anybody you sent these to me,” Mr Putin reportedly told Mr Trump.

“I don’t want you to tell anybody because people will get mad at you, not me. They don’t care about me.”

The pair then remained in contact after Mr Trump’s presidency ended in 2021, including while the Republican candidate for this year’s election tried to force his colleagues in Congress to block American military support for Ukraine.

President Joe Biden’s Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told Mr Woodward: “I wouldn’t purport to speak to what President Trump may or may not have done.”

Mr Trump’s senior adviser Jason Miller, when asked about their secret talks, said: “Not that I’m aware of … I have not heard that they’re talking, so I’d push back on that.”

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Helsinki in 2018. Picture: Yuri Kadobnov (AFP)

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson was reportedly only able to convince Mr Trump to soften his opposition to backing Ukraine by arguing the military aid package would help Republicans in November’s election.

In 2022, shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, Mr Trump publicly praised Mr Putin as a “genius”. US President Joe Biden, according to Mr Woodward, told his advisers the Russian leader was “the epitome of evil”.

During this year’s election campaign, Mr Trump has boasted that he would negotiate an end to the war within 24 hours, while refusing to say if he wants Ukraine to win.

Mr Woodward – who exposed the Watergate scandal that ended Richard Nixon’s presidency with his colleague Carl Bernstein – declared Mr Trump was “the most reckless and impulsive president in American history and is demonstrating the very same character as a presidential candidate in 2024”.

But Mr Cheung said: “None of these made-up stories by Bob Woodward are true.”

“Woodward is a total sleazebag who has lost it mentally, and he’s slow, lethargic, incompetent and overall a boring person with no personality,’ he added in a statement.

Ms Harris blasted Mr Trump for sending the Covid tests “to a murderous dictator” when he was “was talking about Americans should be putting bleach in their blood”.

“Think about this person who wants to be president again, who secretly is helping out an adversary when the American people are dying by the hundreds every day,” she said.

Originally published as Bob Woodward’s new book reveals Donald Trump’s secret dealings with Vladimir Putin