On one point, at least, the Kremlin has sided with Bob Woodward against Donald Trump.
Woodward is coming out with a new book, and among its headline-making disclosures is his report on what happened when the pandemic struck, when the death toll was soaring and people could not get home testing kits for Covid-19.
President Trump, at that point in 2020, secretly sent Vladimir Putin a number of Abbott Point of Care Covid test machines “for his personal use.”
The Trump campaign said Woodward’s book, an advance copy of which was obtained by CNN, consisted entirely of made-up stories.
But Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov confirmed the receipt of the Covid machines.
A side-by-side with former President Donald Trump and investigative journalist Bob Woodward. (Getty Images)
“As for the tests, when the pandemic began, countries did not have enough equipment,” Peskov said. “And many countries then exchanged such gestures of support and sent each other shipments of various equipment they had.”
In fact, during that spring of 2020, Russia sent the Trump administration 60 tons of medical equipment.
Woodward also quotes the Russian dictator as telling Trump: “I don’t want you to tell anybody because people will get mad at you, not me. They don’t care about me.”
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But Peskov disputed another assertion by Woodward, that Trump has stayed in touch with Putin since he left the White House, with as many as seven calls between them. “As for the calls, that’s a lie,” Peskov said.
In the book “War,” however, the Washington Post sleuth recounts a scene where Trump tells a top aide to leave the room so “he could have what he said was a private phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.” Trump officials now say they’re not aware of any such conversations.
The former president granted Woodward 18 taped interviews for his previous book, but they had a falling out after the veteran reporter wrote that Trump was unfit for office – and was sued by his subject for releasing the recordings.
In this pool photograph distributed by Russian state-owned Sputnik agency, Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a meeting with the acting governor of Kaliningrad Region at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence, outside Moscow on August 14, 2024. (Gavriil Grigorov/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
I know Woodward’s work extremely well, and while any journalist can be misled by sources, he does not make things up.
Other parts of the book deal with Joe Biden confronting Putin about the coming invasion of Ukraine, had Kamala Harris warn a skeptical Volodomyr Zelenskyy, and – with officials assuming a 50 percent chance that he might use a tactical nuclear weapon against the Ukrainians, called the Kremlin boss the “epitome of evil.”
The president repeatedly cursed out Bibi Netanyahu, calling him an SOB and, later, a “f***ing liar” after the Israeli prime minister invaded the crowded area called Rafah despite American pressure.
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In the statement from Trump’s spokesman, which sounds like it was dictated by the boss, Woodward is described as “a truly demented and deranged man who suffers from a debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome. Woodward is an angry, little man and is clearly upset because President Trump is successfully suing him because of the unauthorized publishing of recordings he made previously. President Trump gave him absolutely no access for this trash book that either belongs in the bargain bin of the fiction section of a discount bookstore or used as toilet tissue. Woodward is a total sleazebag who has lost it mentally, and he’s slow, lethargic, incompetent and overall a boring person with no personality.”
Why stop there?
Trump, who prides himself on being a counter-puncher, wastes little time before swinging away.
U.S. Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris poses during the Unite for America live-streaming rally in Farmington Hills, Michigan, on September 19, 2024. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
After Harris’ friendly radio interview with Howard Stern, who said it would be insanity to vote for Trump, this post appeared on Truth Social:
“BETA MALE Howard Stern made a fool of himself on his low-rated radio show when he ‘interviewed’ Lyin’ Kamala Harris, and hit her with so many SOFTBALL questions that even she was embarrassed.
“He looked like a real fool, working so hard to make a totally incompetent and ill-equipped person look as good as possible, which wasn’t very good. I dropped Howard a long time ago, like most others, and have since been credited with very good judgment!”
Donald and Howard were, of course, once New York pals, and Trump attended his wedding.
Trump also had campaign manager Chris LaCivita take a swipe at Fox News for covering (along with other networks) a government briefing, featuring both Biden and Harris, on Hurricane Milton as the monster storm was heading toward Florida.
“@FoxNews just as bad as every other ‘cable news’ network …running literally propaganda and @KamalaHarris TV ads disguised as a news conference,” Chris LaCivita posted on X.
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Of course there’s a political benefit for Harris showing that she and FEMA are working hard to prepare for the Florida storm, just as there is when Ron DeSantis holds a presser on the Category 5 threat.
But with Kamala’s media blitz finally making some news after weeks in which Trump has dominated the campaign coverage, this reflects his determination to insert himself into every story that surfaces, no matter how negative.