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Donald Trump has reportedly met with Russian President Vladimir Putin seven times since leaving the White House.
A new book by journalist Bob Woodward includes extensive reporting on President Joe Biden's “frank, profanity-laced” behind-the-scenes response to Putin’s war in Ukraine and Israel’s war in Gaza It is.
Mr. Woodward’s War (his fourth book since Mr. Trump’s victory in 2016, excerpts of which were published by CNN) includes moments he described at Mar-a-Lago. It also includes previously unreported details about the former president’s relationships with authoritarian leaders, including: A senior aide was asked to leave the room so he could make a “private phone call.”
“According to President Trump’s aides, there have been multiple phone calls between President Trump and President Putin, possibly as many as seven in the period since President Trump left the White House in 2021," Woodward said. is writing.
Woodward reported that he asked Trump’s chief of staff, Jason Miller, whether Trump and Putin had spoken since leaving the White House in January 2021, to which Miller replied: Ta. of. “
According to Woodward, Miller added, “I’m not hearing anything that they’re talking about, so I’m going to push back on that.”
Biden’s director of national intelligence, Avril Haines, was “carefully evasive” when asked by Woodward whether there was a phone call between Trump and Putin after he took office, the prominent journalist wrote. .
“I’m not going to pretend to know every single contact that President Putin had. I’m not going to talk about what President Trump did or didn’t do,” Haines told Woodward.
President Vladimir Putin, seen in a photo provided by the Kremlin on September 27, reportedly met with former President Donald Trump at least seven times since he left the White House (Reuters)
Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign has vehemently denied Woodward’s report.
“None of these fabricated stories by Bob Woodward are true and are the work of a true psychopath suffering from a debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome,” campaign communications director Stephen Chan told The Independent on Tuesday. told Dent.
“Mr. Woodward is an angry little man who is clearly upset because President Trump has successfully sued him for the unauthorized release of previously recorded audio.” Mr. Chan added.
According to Chan, “President Trump never gave him any access to this garbage book that’s sitting in the bargain bin in the novel section of a discount bookstore or being used as toilet paper.” “Woodward is a total scumbag who has lost his mind, slow, lethargic, incompetent, and generally boring with no personality.”
Lawyers for Mr. Woodward are seeking the dismissal of a nearly $50 million lawsuit from Mr. Trump alleging that Mr. Woodward released tapes of interviews for another book without his consent. Woodward ended up interviewing Trump 19 times between December 2019 and August 2020 for Rage, which was published in September 2020.
Woodward’s team said in a court filing that the journalist made fair use of Trump’s interview, calling it “classic news reporting” that promotes “the need to accurately inform the public.” He claimed that it was an example of.
Trump himself said he had a “very good relationship” with Putin while standing next to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in New York City last month.
“If we win, I think it will be resolved very quickly,” Trump told reporters on September 27.
Zelenskiy interjected, saying, “I hope that the relations between our two countries will become even better.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump shake hands during a meeting in New York City, September 27 (Getty)
Mr. Woodward’s War does not describe the alleged conversations between the two, but the exchanges between Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin reveal that Mr. Trump’s corruption allegations led to Mr. Trump becoming “the most reckless and impulsive president in American history.” , which formed Mr. Woodward’s report, “showing exactly the same character.” As a presidential candidate in 2024. ”
Woodward’s reporting is famous for unraveling Richard Nixon’s presidential term, but his Watergate scandal was exposed in a series of damning reports by Woodward and his Washington Post colleague Carl Bernstein. It was done.
His latest book also reports that Trump secretly sent several coronavirus testing machines to Putin for personal use during the height of the pandemic.
Russia and the United States exchanged medical equipment at the time, but President Putin reportedly told President Trump to keep quiet about the deployment of testing machines.
According to the reporter, Putin told Trump: “Don’t tell anyone you sent me these.”
Woodward wrote that Trump responded, “I don’t care.” “Are you okay.”
“No, no,” Putin reportedly said. “Don’t tell anyone because people will be mad at you, not me. They don’t care about me.”
“War” is scheduled to be published on October 15th.
