Donald Trump secretly spoke to Vladimir Putin seven times

A forthcoming new book by American journalism legend Bob Woodward reveals the close ties between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin after the US president’s term. In his book “War”, to be published on October 15, he writes how Donald Trump has maintained a personal relationship with Vladimir Putin, despite the Russian invasion of Ukraine and while he aims to return home- White.

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.

Covid screening tests

According to Bob Woodward, Donald Trump also secretly sent Covid-19 screening tests to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin when he was in the White House and in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, while the United States in were missing.

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 surprised. angry with you, not with me,” the Russian president reportedly told him.

Seven secret interviews

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. the 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 Steven Cheung, one of the spokespersons for the Republican candidate in a statement. presidential election, saying the book “could serve as toilet paper.”

Democratic reactions

Donald Trump’s Democratic rival 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 personal 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. “Over 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 them.

These revelations once again shine the spotlight on the relationship established by Donald Trump with Russia and risk reinforcing fears for the fate of Ukraine in the event of the Republican’s return to the White House.

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Myrtille Wendling is a journalist in the digital editorial team. After a bachelor’s degree in Sociology at the University of Paris, she obtained her master’s degree at the Academy of Media and Journalism at the University of Neuchâtel. She has worked for La Région, Le Temps, Watson and L’Illustré.More info

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