Russia and Putin · 2024 campaign · № 85
Would not deny reported calls with Putin since leaving office: 'if I did, it's a smart thing'
“Well, I don't comment on that, but I will tell you that if I did, it's a smart thing. If I'm friendly with people, if I can have a relationship with people, that's a good thing, not a bad thing in terms of a country. He's got 2,000 nuclear weapons, and so do we.”
- Said
- , Interview with Bloomberg's John Micklethwait at the Economic Club of Chicago
- Subject
- Reported calls with Putin
- Type
- Praise and deference
- Topic
- Ukraine & Russia
- Era
- 2024 campaign
What happened
Bob Woodward's book 'War,' published October 15, 2024, reported that an unnamed Trump aide said Trump and Putin had spoken 'as many as seven' times since Trump left office, including a call in early 2024 while Trump was urging Republicans to block Ukraine aid, and that Trump had secretly sent Putin COVID-19 test machines in 2020. Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung said 'none of these made up stories by Bob Woodward are true.' Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the claim about the calls was 'not true' but confirmed that 'testers came from America' in 2020. CBS News noted that Woodward wrote he could not verify the calls with Trump, Putin or intelligence sources. Asked on October 15 whether he had talked to Putin since leaving office, Trump said he did not comment on it but 'if I did, it's a smart thing.'
Sources
- Interview: John Micklethwait of Bloomberg Interviews Donald Trump in Chicago - October 15, 2024
- Trump won't confirm he talked with Putin, and says there was 'love and peace' on Jan. 6
- Trump secretly sent Putin COVID-19 tests during pandemic shortage, a new book reports
- Trump gave Putin COVID test machine for personal use early in pandemic, new book reveals
- Kremlin backs up Woodward story that Trump sent COVID tests to Putin