Donald Trump secretly sent COVID-19 tests to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin while in the White House and in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, when the United States ran out of them, new book reveals forthcoming from 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 who 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.
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. the presidential election, saying that the book “could serve as toilet paper”.
Kamala Harris, for her part, expressed her indignation. “Everyone in America was struggling to get kits […] and this guy sends 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. “More than a million people died but guess what? […] He called his friend Putin, this is no joke, and made sure Putin 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.