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 from Bob Woodward. And that wasn’t all.
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”.
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.”
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.
FIVE BOMBSHELLS FROM THE BOOK
1. Trump sent US-made Covid-19 tests to Vladimir Putin
When Donald Trump was president in 2020, he sent Covid-19 tests to the Russian President as Vladimir Putin was afraid of catching the virus. Putin warned Trump not to reveal they had been shared fearing political fallout from the move. Trump has denied the reports.
There may have also been seven calls between Trump and Putin since Trump left the White House in 2021.
2. Joe Biden’s expletives about Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu
The US President has called Putin the “epitome of evil” in front of his advisers and referred to the Russian President as “That f**king Putin”.
He claimed the Israeli PM was interested in protecting himself and not just defeating Hamas.
He is understood to have told lcose advisers: “That son of a b***h Bibi Netanyahu, he’s a bad guy. He’s a bad f**king guy!” Biden also accused him of having “no strategy”.
3. Harris has a two-pronged tactics with Netanyahu
Kamala Harris seemingly distanced herself from Biden’s approach to Israel’s war in Gaza by publicly speaking about the costs of military occupation and saying she would not stay silent on Palestinians. But it is understood she has not been so forthright in private talks.
4. Biden’s team believed there was a real threat that Putin would use nuclear weapons in Ukraine
The book suggests Biden’s national security team thought there was a 50 per cent chance of nuclear weapons being used in 2022.
In the lead-up to Russia’s invasion, the US also obtained intelligence that showed “conclusively” in October 2021 that Putin had plans to invade Ukraine with 175,000 troops. Biden did not believe this at the time, saying “This would be so crazy. Jesus Christ! Now I’ve got to deal with Russia swallowing Ukraine?”
Biden raised it with Putin on a call in December 2021 that got heated and Putin “raised the risk of a nuclear war”. Biden said it was “impossible to win” a nuclear war.
5. ‘Erratic’ Trump’s second run for the White House
Woodward writes about Trump’s decision to run for president again, including a series of conversations with golfing buddy, Senator Lindsey Graham.
“Going to Mar-a-Lago is a little bit like going to North Korea,” Graham said. “Everybody stands up and claps every time Trump comes in.”
Woodward describes Graham’s attempts to give Trump campaign advice for 2024.
“You’ve got a problem with moderate women,” Graham told Trump after the midterms.
“The people that think that the earth is flat and we didn’t go to the moon, you’ve got them. Let that go.”
Graham repeatedly urged Trump to move on from the 2020 election, telling him if he is re-elected, “then January 6 won’t be your obituary.”
“I gave a speech today and I only mentioned the 2020 election twice!” Trump said to Graham, “as if it had shown maximum restraint,” Woodward said.
Graham added: “Trump is becoming more erratic. These court cases. I think they would rattle anybody.”
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Originally published as Bob Woodward’s new book reveals Donald Trump’s secret dealings with Vladimir Putin