Donald Trump sent Vladimir Putin COVID test machines for his personal use back in 2020, a new book has claimed.
US author and famed Watergate reporter Bob Woodward also claimed in his latest book “War” that Mr Trump and Mr Putin shared as many as seven private phone calls since the former president left office.
Traditional Russian wooden dolls depicting Putin and Trump during his first term as US president. Pic: AP
As the virus began to spread in 2020 Mr Trump sent Mr Putin an unspecified number of the machines, according to Woodward.
He claimed that Mr Putin told Mr Trump not to tell anyone else because people would be angry over it, but Mr Trump said he didn’t care if anyone knew.
The book said Mr Trump ended up agreeing not to tell anyone.
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It isn’t specified when the machines were sent but describes it as being as the virus spread through Russia.
Previous reports said that Mr Trump’s administration sent ventilators and other equipment to several countries including Russia.
Secret phone calls
Woodward also claimed that Mr Trump and Mr Putin had held multiple calls since he left the White House.
He tells the story of an aide being asked to leave Mr Trump’s office at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida so he could call Mr Putin.
Woodward claims the aide, who he doesn’t name, said there had been multiple calls.
The book does not detail what was discussed.
Mr Trump has had a controversial relationship with Mr Putin since his 2016 campaign for president, where he called upon Russia to find missing emails deleted by his Democrat rival Hilary Clinton.
US intelligence agencies said Russia had meddled in that election, something Mr Trump publicly questioned two years later after meeting Mr Putin in person in Helsinki.
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‘The work of a truly demented and deranged man’
Mr Trump’s team criticised the publication’s claims.
His communications director Steven Cheung denied the accounts and said: “None of these made-up stories by Bob Woodward are true and are the work of a truly demented and deranged man who suffers from a debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
Sky News’ US partner network NBC News quoted Mr Trump’s running mate JD Vance as saying: “I honestly didn’t know that Bob Woodward was still alive until you asked me that question.”
He knocked Woodward as a “hack” and said that even if the stories were true: “Look, is there something wrong with speaking to world leaders? No. Is there anything wrong with engaging in diplomacy?”