Within the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, then-President Donald Trump despatched Russian President Vladimir Putin a COVID-19 check machine, based on the brand new ebook “Warfare” by Bob Woodward.
“This can be a second when COVID is operating wild, not simply in the US, on the earth,” Woodward instructed “CBS Sunday Morning” in a current interview. “He provides Abbott point-of-care testing kits to Putin. I imply, these are treasured belongings to anybody on the earth, within the nation, and he provides it to him for his private use.”
Putin insisted Trump maintain quiet in regards to the reward, based on Woodward.
Vide President Kamala Harris addressed the claims Tuesday throughout an interview with Howard Stern, saying, “Everyone was scrambling to get these kits, these COVID check kits, and this man, who’s president of the US, is sending them to Russia, this murderous dictator, for his private use?”
Even after leaving workplace, Trump has stayed in contact with the Russian president, based on Woodward. An unidentified aide instructed Woodward the previous president had as many as seven personal calls with Putin — though Woodward famous he was unable to talk to Trump or Putin to confirm the calls occurred, and he was wasn’t capable of verify the calls by means of the Trump marketing campaign or intelligence sources.
However based on the aide, one of many calls got here early this yr, when Trump was urging Republicans to dam extra assist to Ukraine to assist the nation’s combat in opposition to Russia.
The newly revealed contacts elevate extra questions on Trump’s relationship with Putin. In a current presidential debate, Trump twice refused to say who he needed to prevail within the warfare between Russia and Ukraine.
Harris instructed “60 Minutes” she believes Trump would have allowed Putin to overcome Ukraine.
“If [Trump] had been president, Putin could be sitting in Kyiv proper now,” Harris stated. “He talks about, ‘Oh, he can finish it on day one.’ You understand what that’s? It is about give up.”
Trump’s 2024 marketing campaign communications director Steven Cheung blasted Woodward’s claims, saying in a press release, “None of those made up tales by Bob Woodward are true and are the work of a really demented and deranged man who suffers from a debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
Cheung stated Trump gave Woodward “completely no entry” for the ebook and stated it “belongs within the cut price bin of the fiction part.”
Woodward’s ebook additionally contains tales of President Biden’s personal frustrations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In keeping with Woodward, because the preventing in Gaza escalated earlier this yr, Biden referred to Netanyahu as a “son of a b****” and referred to as him “a foul f***ing man.”
