Former U.S. President Donald Trump secretly spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin as many as seven times after he left office, The New York Times (NYT) reported on Oct. 8, citing a book by journalist Bob Woodward.
According to Woodward's latest book "War," the two might have spoken a half-dozen other times after Trump left the White House in 2020, the unnamed aide claimed.
Putin and Trump allegedly spoke even as the latter was reportedly pressuring Republicans to block the $60 billion aid package for Kyiv.
Trump's views on Ukraine are causing concern among Ukraine's partner countries, as the ex-president seeks re-election this November, sparking fears his potential cutting of military support as Ukraine struggles to hold the line against intense Russian offensives.
In early 2024, Trump ordered an aide out of his office at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida to hold a phone call with Putin, the book alleged.
Trump also allegedly secretly sent Putin COVID-19 test devices for personal use at the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. In a phone conversation with Trump, the Russian president asked his U.S. counterpart not to publicly disclose this information, the NYT reported.
"I don’t want you to tell anybody because people will get mad at you, not me," Putin told Trump, according to the book.
After the start of the pandemic, Putin drastically reduced his amount of personal contacts, and many of those he met have reportedly been forced to quarantine. The Russian president claimed he had been vaccinated, without elaborating on which vaccine.
The Trump campaign denied the reports, calling the stories from the Woodward's book "made up."
The NYT reported earlier in October that Trump asked Putin for advice when deciding on whether to send arms to Ukraine early during his presidency in 2017.
The ex-president has promised to end the full-scale war within a day if elected but has not publicly elaborated on how he plans to achieve that. One plan reportedly involves Kyiv ceding territory to Russia.
Kamala Harris, Trump's Democratic rival, said in an interview aired on Oct. 7 that if she is elected, she would refuse to engage in peace talks with Putin without Ukraine’s involvement.
Trump met Zelensky during the latter's visit to the U.S. at the end of September, during which he touted his supposed "good relationship" with both the Ukrainian and Russian presidents.
James Greenwood
