The Kremlin on Wednesday denied reports by American journalist Bob Woodward that former US president Donald Trump spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin as many as seven times after leaving office.
When asked by the Russian media outlet RBC if Putin and Trump had spoken on the phone, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “No, that’s not true.”
In his book War, Woodward said Trump ordered an aide away from his office at his Florida residence in early 2024 so he could conduct a private phone call with Putin, according to The Washington Post, where Woodward rose to fame half a century ago for exposing the Watergate scandal.
The Post said on Wednesday that the book does not describe what the two men discussed, and it quotes a Trump campaign official casting doubt on the supposed contact.
The book also cited an unnamed Trump aide as indicating that Trump may have spoken to Putin as many as seven times since Trump left the White House in 2021.
Trump’s campaign dismissed Woodward’s book and said the book’s content was “made-up”, the New York Times reported.
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 Abbott Point of Care test machines for the Russian’s personal use.
Putin, who has been described as particularly anxious about being infected at the time, urged Trump to not publicly reveal the gesture because it could damage the American president politically. “I don’t want you to tell anybody because people will get mad at you, not me,” Putin reportedly told him.
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.
Efforts to confirm any post-White House communication between Trump and Putin on Tuesday were not successful. Nineteen current and former Trump and Biden administration officials and career intelligence officials reached by the Times on Tuesday said they had no knowledge of any contacts between Trump and Putin in the years since Trump left office.
US and Russian officials did publicly announce in 2020 that Covid supplies had been sent to Russia shortly after a May 7 telephone call between Trump and Putin.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said at the time that “some testing equipment as well as ventilators” had been sent. But officials did not say that it was for Putin’s personal use or disclose that the Russian president advised Trump to keep their conversation secret.
Trump’s campaign dismissed Woodward’s book by assailing the author with typically personal insults — “a total sleazebag” who is “slow, lethargic, incompetent and overall a boring person with no personality” — without addressing any of the specifics reported in it.
Woodward’s book includes other tantalising reporting that had Washington buzzing Tuesday, including profanity-laced tirades by President Joe Biden about and to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel over the war in the Gaza Strip over the last year.
The president also received consolation from a surprising source after the botched troop withdrawal from Afghanistan from former President George W.Bush. “Oh boy, I can understand what you’re going through,” Bush told Biden, according to the book. Bush said that he too had felt ill-advised by intelligence officials.
As for Russia, Biden faulted his own former ticket mate, President Barack Obama, for screwing up the response to Russia’s initial, more limited invasion of Ukraine in 2014. “That’s why we are here,” Biden is quoted as telling a friend. He added, “Barack never took Putin seriously.”
When asked by the Russian media outlet RBC if Putin and Trump had spoken on the phone, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “No, that’s not true.”
In his book War, Woodward said Trump ordered an aide away from his office at his Florida residence in early 2024 so he could conduct a private phone call with Putin, according to The Washington Post, where Woodward rose to fame half a century ago for exposing the Watergate scandal.
The Post said on Wednesday that the book does not describe what the two men discussed, and it quotes a Trump campaign official casting doubt on the supposed contact.
The book also cited an unnamed Trump aide as indicating that Trump may have spoken to Putin as many as seven times since Trump left the White House in 2021.
Trump’s campaign dismissed Woodward’s book and said the book’s content was “made-up”, the New York Times reported.
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 Abbott Point of Care test machines for the Russian’s personal use.
Putin, who has been described as particularly anxious about being infected at the time, urged Trump to not publicly reveal the gesture because it could damage the American president politically. “I don’t want you to tell anybody because people will get mad at you, not me,” Putin reportedly told him.
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.
Efforts to confirm any post-White House communication between Trump and Putin on Tuesday were not successful. Nineteen current and former Trump and Biden administration officials and career intelligence officials reached by the Times on Tuesday said they had no knowledge of any contacts between Trump and Putin in the years since Trump left office.
US and Russian officials did publicly announce in 2020 that Covid supplies had been sent to Russia shortly after a May 7 telephone call between Trump and Putin.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said at the time that “some testing equipment as well as ventilators” had been sent. But officials did not say that it was for Putin’s personal use or disclose that the Russian president advised Trump to keep their conversation secret.
Trump’s campaign dismissed Woodward’s book by assailing the author with typically personal insults — “a total sleazebag” who is “slow, lethargic, incompetent and overall a boring person with no personality” — without addressing any of the specifics reported in it.
Woodward’s book includes other tantalising reporting that had Washington buzzing Tuesday, including profanity-laced tirades by President Joe Biden about and to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel over the war in the Gaza Strip over the last year.
The president also received consolation from a surprising source after the botched troop withdrawal from Afghanistan from former President George W.Bush. “Oh boy, I can understand what you’re going through,” Bush told Biden, according to the book. Bush said that he too had felt ill-advised by intelligence officials.
As for Russia, Biden faulted his own former ticket mate, President Barack Obama, for screwing up the response to Russia’s initial, more limited invasion of Ukraine in 2014. “That’s why we are here,” Biden is quoted as telling a friend. He added, “Barack never took Putin seriously.”
