Trump Allegedly Sent COVID Testing Machines to Putin in Secret Calls, New Book Claims

In a bombshell revelation from Bob Woodward’s new book, War, the celebrated journalist claims that former President Donald Trump secretly sent COVID-19 testing machines to Russian President Vladimir Putin during the height of the pandemic. According to Woodward, these machines were sent in 2020, even though the Abbott Point of Care COVID-19 tests were only authorized for emergency use in the U.S. and were not widely available. Trump allegedly agreed to send the machines to Putin for his personal use, and the Russian leader urged Trump to keep the gesture secret. Putin reportedly said, “Please don’t tell anybody you sent these to me.” However, Trump brushed off his concern, saying, “I don’t care. Fine.” Putin further shared his concern, “No, no. I don’t want you to tell anybody because people will get mad at you, not me. They don’t care about me.”

As per The Daily Beast, perhaps even more shockingly, Woodward alleges that Trump and Putin maintained contact after Trump left the White House. The former president is said to have had as many as seven secret phone calls with Putin since 2021, posing questions about the nature of their continued relationship. In his book, Woodward claimed, “According to Trump’s aide, there have been multiple phone calls between Trump and Putin, maybe as many as seven in the period since Trump left the White House in 2021.”

In one instance, Trump reportedly asked an aide to leave the room during a meeting at Mar-a-Lago so that he could speak privately with Putin. However, Trump’s campaign has strongly denied the allegations made in Woodward’s book, dismissing them as baseless fabrications. As per the reports of The Hill, Steven Cheung, communications director for the Trump campaign, vehemently refuted the claims, “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. Woodward is an angry, little man.” He also labeled Woodward’s book as “trash” and suggested it belonged in the “fiction section of a discount bookstore.”

He further added, “Woodward is a total sleazebag who has lost it mentally, and he’s slow, lethargic, incompetent and overall a boring person with no personality.” In addition to denying the alleged secret calls, the Trump campaign pointed to Trump’s ongoing lawsuit against Woodward over the publication of tapes from interviews conducted during Trump’s presidency. Trump is seeking $50 million in damages, accusing Woodward of using the tapes without proper authorization. The lawsuit stems from Woodward’s 2020 book Rage, which was based on a series of interviews with Trump while he was still in office.

Despite the denials from Trump’s campaign, Woodward’s book has stirred up controversy, specifically regarding the relationship between Trump and Putin. While one of Trump’s aides- Jason Miller, claimed he was unaware of any such calls between the two notable figures. Moreover, Avril Haines (Director of National Intelligence) did not rule out the possibility and said that she could not be aware of all the contacts between these two political figures.