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Veteran reporter Bob Woodward's latest book "War" is generating headlines, this time with a story that former President Trump had a number of conversations after he left the White House with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The report, denied by the former president's campaign, is one of a few surprises in the book, which is set to be released on Oct. 15.
Excerpts of it were obtained and published by CNN on Tuesday.
Here are 6 newsy nuggets from Woodward’s new book:
Trump's calls with Putin, sending COVID test
Woodward wrote in his book that Trump was in touch with Putin after leaving office in 2021, and that he specifically had multiple calls with the Russian leader and sent him COVID tests.
The Watergate reporter wrote that there were as many as seven phone calls between Putin and Trump, according to a Trump aide, CNN reported. Woodward described an instance at Mar-a-Lago when the former president told a senior aide to leave so that “he could have what he said was a private phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.”
Woodward wrote that when he asked Jason Miller, Trump’s senior advisor, if Trump had talked with Putin since leaving the Oval Office in 2021, Miller said “um, ah, not that, ah, not that I’m aware of.”
“I have not heard that they’re talking, so I’d push back on that,” Miller added, according to Woodward.
In his new book, Woodward also wrote that in 2020, Trump “secretly sent Putin a bunch of Abbott Point of Care Covid test machines for his personal use.”
According to Woodward, Putin told the former president not to tell anybody about it. Trump, in response, said “I don’t care … fine.”
Trump’s campaign pushed back on Woodward’s reporting in his book, calling them “made up stories” and that the former president did not grant the reporter access as he did for his previous books.
Steven Cheung, the communications director for the Trump campaign, said that Woodward “suffers from a debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
Biden badmouthing Netanyahu
Woodward wrote that President Biden badmouthed Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu to one of his associates in the spring of this year, calling him “That son of a bitch, Bibi Netanyahu, he’s a bad guy. He’s a bad ----ing guy!”
Woodward described the evolving relationship between Biden and the Israeli prime minister, with the U.S. president standing behind Israel publicly, but feuding with its leader in private over the country’s military operation in the Gaza Strip following Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attack.
“What’s your strategy, man?” Biden asked Netanyahu in April, according to Woodward.
“We have to go into Rafah,” Netanyahu said.
“Bibi, you’ve got no strategy,” Biden said.
The two leaders also spared over Israel’s response to Iran’s missile attack in April.
After Israel went into Rafah, the city in the south of Gaza, Biden privately said “He’s a ----ing liar,” when talking about the Israeli prime minister, Woodward reported, according to CNN.
The president reportedly yelled “Bibi, what the f---?” when Israel assassinated a Hezbollah military commander in Beirut in July.
“You know the perception of Israel around the world increasingly is that you’re a rogue state, a rogue actor,” Biden told Netanyahu, according to Woodward.
The prime minister said the man was “one of the leading terrorists.”
“We saw an opportunity and took it,” the prime minister said according to Woodward. “The harder you hit, the more successful you’re going to be in the negotiation.”
Apart from assailing Netanyahu in private, Biden also had choice words about the prime minister's associates, saying 18 out of 19 of them are "liars," Woodward reported, according to The Washington Post which also obtained a copy of the book.
Biden said he “should never have picked” Garland
In private, Biden told an associate that he should have not picked Attorney General Merrick Garland as he expressed anger over the legal cases his son, Hunter Biden, was involved in.
“Should never have picked Garland,” Biden said, according to Woodward reporting that was published by CNN. “This is never going to ----ing go away.”
Biden says “Barack never took Putin seriously”
Woodward wrote in his book about Biden’s criticism of former President Obama’s handling of Russia’s 2014 invasion of Crimea. Biden thought that Obama could have done more to prevent Putin from invading the peninsula.
“They ----ed up in 2014,” Biden told a friend, according to Woodward's writing that was obtained by The Post. “That’s why we are here. We ----ed it up. Barack never took Putin seriously.”
“We did nothing. We gave Putin a license to continue!” Biden said.
“Well, I’m revoking his ----ing license!”
US assessed 50 percent chance of Putin nuking Ukraine
The U.S., at one point, assessed that there was a 50 percent chance that Russia would use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, Woodward reported, citing intelligence reports.
Woodward wrote that Putin became desperate seeing the losses his military was taking in Ukraine that he could use those weapons in the war-torn country.
During that time, Biden told his national security adviser, Jake Sullivan to get in touch with Russian officials.
“On all channels, get on the line with the Russians,” Biden told Sullivan, Woodward reported in the book, according to CNN. “Tell them what we will do in response.”
Woodward detailed a contentious 2022 call between Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and then-Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
“If you did this, all the restraints that we have been operating under in Ukraine would be reconsidered,” Austin told Shoigu, Woodward wrote in his book, according to CNN. “This would isolate Russia on the world stage to a degree you Russians cannot fully appreciate.”
“I don’t take kindly to being threatened,” Shoigu said, in response to which Austin said: “Mr. Minister. I am the leader of the most powerful military in the history of the world. I don’t make threats.”
MBS has burner phone for Trump, Sullivan
Woodward also wrote that Saudi Arabia leader Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud has burner phones, some of which he uses to talk to key Americans.
The phones came up, according to Woodward's reporting, in a meeting the Saudi Crown Prince had with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) in March.
“Hey, let’s call Trump,” Graham told the Saudi crown prince, known as MBS.
Woodward then wrote that MBS’s aide brought a bag of burner phones. Woodward wrote in his book, according to The Post, that MBS has a bag of around 50 burner phones. The reporter stated that the Saudi crown prince has one labeled “JAKE SULLIVAN” and another one as “TRUMP 45.”
Jake Sullivan is Biden's national security adviser.
Blinken told Biden losing election would define his legacy
Over the summer, one of the top topics in U.S. politics was Biden’s decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race following pressure from Democratic Party politicians.
Woodward wrote in his book that Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who is a close ally of Biden, talked with the commander-in-chief on the topic of dropping out of the race in July, after his disastrous debate with Trump.
“I don’t want to see your legacy jeopardized. Anyone who is written about gets one sentence. That’s the legacy,” Blinken told Biden on July 4, Woodward reported, according to CNN. “If this decision leads you to staying in and winning reelection, great. If it leads to you staying in and losing reelection, that’s the sentence.”
“Can you see yourself doing it for another four years,” Blinken asked Biden, according to Woodward. “You’ve got to answer that question.”
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