Former President Donald Trump addressed the claims that he’s spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin since leaving office during a conversation at the Economic Club of Chicago on Tuesday.
In his new book, journalist Bob Woodward wrote that the former president has spoken with Putin several times since he left office. While Trump’s team has denied the claims, it came out last week that one story about Trump discretely sending Putin COVID-19 tests was true when the Kremlin confirmed it.
On Tuesday, Trump was asked about the claims he’s spoken with Putin by Bloomberg News editor-in-chief John Micklethwait. However, Trump didn’t give a direct yes or no answer to the question.
“Well, I don’t comment on that, but I will tell you that, if I did, it’s a smart thing,” Trump said. “If I’m friendly with people, if I have a relationship with people, that’s a good thing, not a bad thing, in terms of a country. He’s got 2,000 nuclear weapons, and so do we. China has a lot less, but they’ll catch us within five years. If I have a relationship, I don’t talk about, I don’t talk about —.”
“— That sounds like you talk to him,” Micklethwaite said.
“No, I don’t talk about that,” Trump replied. “I don’t ever say it, but I can tell you what, Russia has never had a president that they respect so much.”
When the story from Woodward first came out in a report from CNN, which received an advanced copy of the book, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung refuted the stories, saying Trump gave the journalist “no access” for the book.
“None of these made-up stories by Bob Woodward are true,” he said at the time.
However, in the week after the report came out, Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov shared in a statement to Bloomberg that the tests were sent to Putin.
Still, Peskov said the other stories about Putin and Trump keeping in contact were not true.
“But about the phone calls — it’s not true,” he wrote to Bloomberg.