At least on one point, the Kremlin has sided with Bob Woodward against Donald Trump.
Woodward is publishing a new book, and among the revelations making headlines is her report on what happened when the pandemic hit, when the death toll was skyrocketing and people couldn't get home test kits for Covid-19 .
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President Trump, at that time in 2020, secretly sent Vladimir Putin several Abbott Point of Care Covid testing machines “for his personal use.”
The Trump campaign said Woodward's book, of which CNN obtained an advance copy, consisted entirely of made-up stories.
But Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov confirmed receipt of the Covid machines.
Next to former President Donald Trump and investigative journalist Bob Woodward. (Getty Images)
“As for testing, when the pandemic started countries did not have enough equipment,” Peskov said. “And many countries then exchanged 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 anyone because people will be mad at you, not me. They don't care about me.”
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But Peskov disputed another claim by Woodward, that Trump has kept in touch with Putin since leaving the White House, with as many as seven calls between them. “As for the calls, it's a lie,” Peskov said.
However, in the book “War,” the Washington Post detective recounts a scene in which Trump tells a senior adviser 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 are not aware of any such conversations.
The former president gave 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 photo distributed by Russian state agency Sputnik, Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with the acting governor of the 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 very well, and while any journalist can be fooled by sources, he doesn't make anything up.
Other parts of the book deal with Joe Biden confronting Putin about the upcoming invasion of Ukraine, Kamala Harris warned the skeptical Volodomyr Zelenskyy and, with officials assuming a 50 percent chance he could use a tactical nuclear weapon against the Ukrainians, called the attention. The head of the Kremlin is the “epitome of evil.”
The president repeatedly cursed Bibi Netanyahu, calling him a son of a bitch and, later, a “damn liar” after the Israeli prime minister invaded the busy area called Rafah despite American pressure.
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In the statement from Trump's spokesperson, which appears to be dictated by the boss, Woodward is described as “a truly demented and deranged man suffering 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 for the unauthorized release of recordings he previously made. President Trump did not give him any access to this trash book that belongs in the bargain bin of a discount bookstore's fiction section or is used as toilet paper. “Woodward is a complete sleazebag who has lost mental control, and is slow, lethargic, incompetent, and generally a boring, characterless person.”
Why stop there?
Trump, who prides himself on being a counterpuncher, wastes little time before walking away.
US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris poses during the live-streamed United for America 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 crazy 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' liar Kamala Harris and hit her with so many questions about SOFTBALL that even she felt embarrassed.
“He seemed 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 left Howard a long time ago, like most of the others, and have since been He is credited with very good judgment!”
Donald and Howard were, of course, once New York friends, and Trump attended their wedding.
Trump also had campaign manager Chris LaCivita criticize Fox News for covering (along with other networks) a government briefing, featuring Biden and Harris, on Hurricane Milton as the monster storm headed toward Florida.
“@FoxNews is as bad as any other 'cable news' network… literally running @KamalaHarris propaganda and TV ads disguised as a press conference,” Chris LaCivita posted on X.
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Of course, there is a political benefit for Harris in showing that she and FEMA are working hard to prepare for the Florida storm, as there is when Ron DeSantis holds a press conference about the Category 5 threat.
But the fact that Kamala's media blitz is finally making news after weeks in which Trump has dominated campaign coverage reflects his determination to insert himself into every story that emerges, no matter how negative.
