Ex-U.S. President Donald Trump secretly sent Covid-19 tests to Russian President Vladimir Putin amid a domestic shortage at the height of the pandemic in 2020, The Washington Post reported Tuesday, citing its associate editor Bob Woodward's upcoming book.
Putin, a known germophobe who was widely said to have taken extra precautionary measures including extended self-isolation during the pandemic, reportedly accepted Trump's tests but urged him to avoid going public about them.
"I don't want you to tell anybody because people will get mad at you, not me," Putin was quoted as saying to Trump at the time.
Out of all the BS about this orange baby flooding our collective intakes every single second of every single day, this bit of "light treason" coming to light earlier might not have been as impactful as it could be when the election draws nigh.
Hopefully the Harris campaign seizes on this and beats him like a pinata with it for the next month. American Presidents should not provide aid and succor to their geopolitical enemies.
Holy shit that’s wild. Just when I think I can’t be surprised by Donald anymore, boom! Woodward does his thing.
As talented as Woodward is, I really dislike that we only find out about these travesties years after the fact, when it’s all but too late to do anything about it. I understand that that’s how he is able to get access to these stories in the first place, but it feels really icky to me.
This could have used more context.
At the time Trump said covid wasn't a problem.
He said it would blow over.
Yet he is sending off tests to protect Putin from this non-issue.
It seems far more likely to me that Putin requested them. There was a brief period where America had a monopoly on anti-COVID medical tech.
The story as reported isn't clear on whose idea it was. For Trump to spontaneously have a brainstorm to help another human being, even if it's Putin, doesn't really check out for me.
Exactly. Like he couldn't have gone straight to the local factory and grabbed some if he really couldn't get any, or straight to the airplane as it arrived with tests.