New Woodward book Why did Trump phone Putin seven times after his term in office?
The former US president is said to have spoken to the Russian head of state on the phone seven times after the end of his term of office. This raises many questions.
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- According to the new book by star journalist Bob Woodward, Donald Trump spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin seven times on the phone after his time in office as US President.
- The details in the book "War" raise questions.
- Woodward's account also gives food for thought in light of Trump's recent criticism of US aid for Ukraine in the Russian war of aggression.
The politically explosive relationship between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin has once again come under the spotlight. According to a recently published book, the former US president and the Russian head of state have spoken to each other privately seven times since Trump left office. This information also draws attention to Trump's continued dialog with heads of state and government as he seeks re-election.
In itself, it is not surprising that an ex-president would stay in touch with counterparts. But the details in the book "War" by the famous US journalist Bob Woodward raise questions. This is especially true in light of an investigation during Trump's presidency into possible links between Russia and the Republican's 2016 election campaign.
"Would advise any government not to trust Putin"
Woodward's account also gives food for thought in light of Trump's recent criticism of US aid for Ukraine in the Russian war of aggression. These statements indicate a possible change of course in US policy in the event of Trump's election victory.
"I would advise any government in the world not to trust Vladimir Putin on anything," says Emily Harding, who led the US Senate Intelligence Committee's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US election. She is now a national security expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank.
Both Trump's campaign team and the Kremlin, which according to the US wants to influence this year's election in Trump's favor, rejected Woodward's information. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Wednesday that the administration would be deeply concerned if the phone calls had indeed taken place.
It is no secret that Trump met with international heads of state and government several times last year: he received the nationalist Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the Israeli head of government Benjamin Netanyahu, met with Polish President Andrzej Duda and the Ukrainian head of state Volodymyr Selenskyj.
The meetings offer Trump the opportunity to set himself apart from President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, in terms of foreign policy and to strengthen ties in the event of a return to the White House. During Netanyahu's visit in July, he boasted of a "great relationship", creating a contrast to the strained dynamic between the Israeli prime minister and Biden.
"Never understood why he liked Putin so much"
While these meetings were public knowledge, Woodward cites seven secret phone calls between Trump and Putin in his book, citing an unnamed adviser. This reignites the debate about the relationship between the two and Trump's alleged goals, according to foreign policy expert Robert Orttung of George Washington University.
When Trump was president, "we never really understood why he liked Putin so much and why he was trying to build such a close relationship with someone who is clearly an adversary and against everything the United States stands for," says Orttung. In 2018, Trump openly questioned findings by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and special investigator Robert Mueller that Russia had interfered in the 2016 US election. More recently, he described Putin as "pretty smart" with regard to the invasion of Ukraine.
Discussion about the Logan Act
Watergate journalist Woodward does not provide any details about the content of the phone calls between the two in his book. However, the details revived discussions about the so-called Logan Act. The US federal law makes it a punishable offense for US citizens to intervene in a dispute between the USA and foreign powers without the government's permission. The law only led to two criminal trials before the 1850s and no criminal convictions. Ex-presidents from Richard Nixon to Jimmy Carter to Bill Clinton held talks with international politicians after leaving the White House.
"Trump could be technically liable just as dozens of celebrities before him were technically liable," says constitutional law expert Daniel Rice from the University of Arkansas. One possible reason for the law not being applied is that the investigators did not want to give the impression that they were targeting a political opponent of a sitting president.
dpa
