Donald Trump secretly sent Covid-19 tests to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin while he was in the White House and in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, while the United States lacked them, reveals a new book to be published by Bob Woodward, American journalism legend.
A behind-the-scenes chronicler of the White House for half a century with the Washington Post, Bob Woodward revealed with Carl Bernstein the Watergate scandal that led to the resignation of President Nixon in 1974. In his new book “War”, to be published on October 15, he also writes that Donald Trump has maintained a personal relationship with Vladimir Putin, despite the Russian invasion of Ukraine and while he aims to return to the White House.
According to the account of the American media which had access to the book, Vladimir Putin received the anti-Covid tests and begged Donald Trump not to say anything: “I don’t want you to tell anyone, people will be in shock. angry with you, not with me,” the Russian president reportedly told him.
Up to seven conversations with Putin
According to an anonymous advisor, Donald Trump has spoken to Vladimir Putin in secret up to seven times since he left the White House in 2021. In early 2024, he asked an aide to leave his office in Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, to have a telephone conversation with the Russian president.
“None of these stories fabricated by Bob Woodward are true, it is the work of a truly insane and unbalanced man,” responded in a statement Steven Cheung, one of the spokespersons for the Republican candidate in the presidential election, saying that the book “could serve as toilet paper”.
“Shameful” management of the pandemic
Donald Trump’s Democratic rival, Kamala Harris, expressed her indignation. “Everyone in America was struggling to get kits…and this guy is sending them to Russia, to a murderous dictator, for his own use?” “This is just the latest and greatest example of who Trump is,” the vice president added.
US President Joe Biden reacted during an event in Pennsylvania on Tuesday evening by denouncing Donald Trump’s “shameful” management of the pandemic. “More than a million people died but guess what? (…) He called his friend Putin, this is not a joke, and made sure that he had tests” while the United States lacked it.
afp/hkr
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