Unlock the US Election Countdown e-newsletter without spending a dime

The tales that matter on cash and politics within the race for the White Home

Donald Trump had as many as seven conversations with Vladimir Putin after he left the White Home, in response to explosive reviews that elevate recent questions concerning the former US president’s relationship with the Russian chief.

The claims stem from a forthcoming ebook by veteran journalist Bob Woodward, as a result of be revealed subsequent week. The Washington Put up, his longtime employer, first reported on the ebook’s contents.

Woodward’s ebook additionally reveals Trump secretly despatched Putin Covid-19 exams for his private use on the peak of the pandemic, the report stated.

The ebook, Struggle, reportedly describes a scene earlier this yr, when Trump instructed an aide to go away his Mar-a-Lago workplace so he might communicate privately by cellphone with Putin. The unnamed aide cited within the ebook recommended the previous president and Russia’s chief had spoken as many as seven occasions since Trump left the White Home in 2021.

The reviews elevate new questions on Trump’s relationship with Putin with lower than a month to go till the US presidential election.

Trump, the Republican candidate, trails his Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris, by greater than three factors, in response to the Monetary Occasions ballot tracker, though they’re locked in a digital tie in all seven swing states that can decide who wins November’s vote.

A spokesperson for Simon & Schuster, Woodward’s writer, didn’t reply to a request for remark.

The Trump marketing campaign’s communications director Steven Cheung rejected the reviews and launched a private assault on Woodward, calling him a “really demented and deranged man”.

Cheung stated Trump gave Woodward “completely no entry for this trash ebook”, including: “Woodward is a complete sleazebag who has misplaced it mentally.”

Trump’s operating mate JD Vance referred to as Woodward a “hack” and defended the previous president at a marketing campaign cease in Michigan on Tuesday.

“Have I talked to Donald Trump about his calls with Vladimir Putin? No. I’ve by no means had that dialog with Donald Trump in my life,” Vance stated in response to a reporter’s query. “Even whether it is true, is there one thing unsuitable with chatting with world leaders? Is there something unsuitable with participating in diplomacy?”

However Harris instructed radio character Howard Stern in an interview on Tuesday that the reviews demonstrated “who Trump is”.

“Individuals in America have been struggling to get exams and this man is sending them to Russia, to a murderous dictator for his private use?” she stated.

“That’s simply the latest stark instance of who Trump is. He secretly despatched Covid take a look at kits for the non-public use of Putin of Russia, an adversary to the USA, when he was speaking about People must be placing bleach of their blood.”

Woodward, 81, grew to become well-known within the Seventies when he and fellow Washington Put up reporter Carl Bernstein broke tales concerning the Watergate scandal, which led to then president Richard Nixon’s resignation. He has written greater than a dozen bestselling books, together with 4 volumes on the Trump presidency.

Trump has sued Woodward over a 2022 audiobook based mostly on 20 interviews that he performed with the previous president between 2016 and 2020. Trump has argued that publishing the tapes violates his copyright, whereas Simon & Schuster has repeatedly filed motions to dismiss the case.

Trump’s potential return to the White Home might have important implications for Russia, Ukraine and the Nato alliance. The previous president — who referred to as Putin a “genius” after Russia invaded Ukraine once more in 2022 — has stated he would finish the combating in Ukraine on “day one” if he’s re-elected, however has not detailed how he would accomplish that. In final month’s presidential debate, Trump declined to say that he wished Ukraine to win the struggle.

Harris has accused Trump of pandering to Putin and instructed CBS Information in an interview that aired on Monday evening that she wouldn’t meet “bilaterally” with the Russian president except his Ukrainian counterparts have been supplied a seat on the negotiating desk.