Donald Trump had secret calls with Vladimir Putin after leaving office: Report

With the US presidential elections only weeks away, a new report claims that former president Donald Trump, who is contesting against Vice President Kamala Harris, was secretly in touch with Russian President Vladimir Putin even after leaving office.

According to an upcoming book by veteran journalist Bob Woodward, titled ‘War’, Trump maintained contact with Putin while he continued to pressure Republicans into blocking aid to Ukraine, reported The New York Times.

Woodward describes in his book a scene from early 2024 at Trump’s Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, when the former president ordered his aide to leave his office while he dialled Putin’s number and had a phone call with the Russian leader. The unidentified aide noted that the two leaders had spoken at least half-a-dozen times since Trump left office in 2020, the New York Times reported.

Furthermore, the book mentions that while Trump was still in office in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, he secretly sent Putin rare COVID-19 tests for personal use. Putin in return urged Trump to not publicly mention the gesture as it could damage Trump's reputation.

“I don’t want you to tell anybody because people will get mad at you, not me,” Mr. Putin reportedly told him.

With these fresh disclosures, questions about Trump’s relationship with Putin are bound to be dragged into the spotlight, especially with a presidential election only weeks away.

Trump, in the past, has praised Putin, hailing him as a genius after he invaded Ukraine in 2022. He has also criticised the aid the US has provided to Russia and has pressured Republicans into blocking it. During the presidential debate with Harris, Trump repeated what he had said for a long time without further elaboration, that if re-elected he would put an end to the Ukraine-Russia war in a day.

Woodward’s book does not specify the conversation the two leaders had on the calls in early 2024, nor does it elaborate on the other calls mentioned by the aide. But the book does mention Jason Miller, a top campaign aide to Trump, noting he had “not heard that they’re talking.”

He added: “I’m sure they’d know how to get in touch with each other” if they did want to talk.