Bob Woodward Shares Distressing Reminder as Putin Congratulates Trump
There’s every reason to be concerned about what Russian leader Vladimir Putin is holding over Donald Trump.
Bob Woodward shared a warning about Donald Trump in the hours after his election win.
Speaking with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, the longtime journalist was asked about his thoughts on Trump’s election, having interviewed the president-elect more than 20 times. Woodward mentioned Trump’s relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“I talked a couple of months ago to Dan Coats, the former director of national intelligence under Trump, and I said, what’s going on in this relationship between Trump and Putin? And Dan Coats said, ‘It’s almost, it’s so close. It seems like it might be blackmail,’” Woodward said.
“CIA director Bill Burns said Putin manipulates. He’s professionally trained to do that,” Woodward added. “Putin’s got a plan just to do this exactly, and it’s what he did when Trump was in office previously, and he’s planning it again at playing Trump.”
Woodward’s warning came as Putin himself stayed silent on Trump’s victory, waiting until the next day to congratulate the president-elect in what could be a power play for the Russian leader. Putin’s congratulatory message came on Thursday and didn’t include any acknowledgment of Trump’s promise that he could end the Ukraine War in “24 hours,” and perhaps signaled the opposite.
Last month, Trump tried to avoid a point-blank question about whether he was still speaking with the Russian autocrat even after leaving office, telling Bloomberg editor-in-chief John Micklethwait, “Well, I don’t comment on that, but I will tell you that, if I did, it’s a smart thing.” One week before, an excerpt from Woodward’s book “War” alleged that Trump and Putin still speak frequently.
On Election Day, bomb threats at polling stations around the country seem to be a product of alleged Russian election interference. It seems that with Trump’s return to the White House, the shadow of Putin is not far behind.