October 8, 2024
Donald Trump has secretly spoken with Vladimir Putin as many as seven times since leaving office—even as he was pressuring Republicans to block military aid to Ukraine to fight Russian invaders—according to a new book by the journalist Bob Woodward, reports The New York Times.
The book also reports that Trump, while still in office early during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, secretly sent Putin what were then rare tests for the virus for the Russian’s personal use. Putin—who has been described as particularly anxious about being infected at the time—urged Trump not to publicly reveal the gesture because it could damage the American president politically.
The disclosures raise new questions about Trump’s relationship with Putin just weeks before an election that will determine whether the former president will reclaim the White House. A copy of the book was obtained by The New York Times.
The Washington Post, where Woodward has worked for more than half a century, and CNN, where he often appears as a commentator, also reported on the book on Tuesday, October 8.
Meanwhile, Trump’s campaign dismissed Mr. Woodward’s book by assailing the author with typically personal insults—“a total sleazebag,” “slow, lethargic, incompetent and overall a boring person with no personality”—without addressing any of the specifics reported in it.
The statement did not explicitly say whether Trump has spoken with Putin since leaving office, but the former president’s oft-expressed affinity for the master of the Kremlin has long baffled even his own appointees.
Research contact: @nytimes
