Donald Trump, while president, secretly sent Covid tests to Vladimir Putin despite shortages in the United States during the pandemic, and spoke to the Russian leader several times after he left the White House, according to a new book. the famous American journalist Bob Woodward.
In the book, called "The War," Woodward writes about the self-confessed mistakes made by US President Joseph Biden and his attempts to prevent the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East, as well as Biden's frustration with the moves of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his failed attempts to get Israel and Hamas to agree a ceasefire.
In the passages published by the Washington Post, where Woodward works as one of the editors, there are details very unfavorable to Trump, who, according to the author, continued to cultivate a personal relationship with Putin even though he is campaigning for a new presidential term, and the Russian president is waging war against Ukraine, an ally of the USA.
As the coronavirus swept the world in 2020, Trump sent a package of covid tests to his counterpart in Moscow. Putin accepted the shipment but tried to avoid negative political consequences for Trump, appealing to him not to disclose the sending of the tests, writes Woodward in the book "War".
According to him, Putin told Trump: "You don't need to tell others because people will be angry with you, not with me."
Woodward also quotes an unnamed Trump aide in the book as suggesting the Republican presidential nominee may have spoken with Putin up to seven times since leaving the White House in 2021.
As the Washington Post writes, citing Woodward's book, in early 2024, Trump ordered an associate to leave his office at the Mar-a-Lago estate so that he could have a private conversation with Putin.
The book "War" will be published on October 15, just three weeks before the crucial US elections in which Trump is fighting a very close battle for votes with Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate.
While Harris appears in the book, she plays a more secondary role compared to Biden, and Woodward writes that she "hardly makes foreign policy decisions on her own."
Bob Woodward has been writing articles and books about US presidents for 50 years, and this is his fourth book since Trump's surprise election victory in 2016. He began covering presidents under Richard Nixon, who was forced to resign in the 1970s due to an affair Watergate exposed by Woodward and his Washington Post colleague Carl Bernstein.
Woodward concludes that Trump, because of his contacts with Putin and other contacts described in the book, is even more unfit to be president than Nixon was.
"Trump was the most reckless and impulsive president in American history, and he shows the same character as a presidential candidate in 2024," Woodward wrote.
Trump's campaign staff described the book as "garbage" and "made up stories."
"They are the work of a truly deranged and demented man who suffers from severe Trump Disturbance Syndrome," Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheng told AFP.
According to CNN, which obtained a copy of the book ahead of its publication, Woodward repeatedly quotes Biden as uttering obscenities while discussing personal and political challenges with aides.
In the book, Biden "calls Putin the epitome of evil", Netanyahu "a liar", and says that he "should never have chosen Merrick Garland as Secretary of Justice".
According to the book, during a phone call in April, Biden took a harsh tone toward Netanyahu.
"What's your strategy, man," Biden asked the Israeli leader, according to Woodward.
"We have to enter Rafah," Netanyahu said, referring to the town in the southern part of Gaza.
"Bibi, you don't have a strategy," Biden replied.
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