New Delhi, India

Donald Trump is fighting hard to emerge victorious in the upcoming Nov 5 US Presidential elections. Still, a new revelation by an explosive new book, a famed reporter's opus, may affect his chances of being the next US President.

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'War,' a book by Bob Woodward, has revealed that allegedly, Trump, when he was president for the first time, sent COVID test kits to his friend Russian President Vladimir Putin. This happened even as the US reeled from a shortage during the coronavirus pandemic.

Explosive revelations

Reportedly, in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic was raging in America and elsewhere, Trump sent a batch of the coveted COVID-19 tests to Putin. While Putin accepted the shipment, he was concerned about potential political backlash for Trump and urged him to keep the transfer of medical supplies secret. 

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According to Woodward's book, Russian President Putin told Trump: "I don't want you to tell anybody because people will get mad at you, not me."

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In excerpts published by The Washington Post, the famed reporter alleges that Trump has maintained a "personal relationship" with Putin, and the two leaders have spoken several times since the Republican left office in 2021.

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Citing an unnamed source, he indicates that the two leaders may have spoken up to seven times since then — despite the US's efforts to aid Ukraine in the Russia war, and the souring US-Russia relations.

Kremlin has confirmed that Trump sent the COVID tests, but denied allegations that former US President Donald Trump spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin as many as seven times after leaving office, reported.

In a conversation with the RBC daily, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: "No, that's not true."

Who is Woodward?

Woodward is a reporter known for his extensive coverage of American presidents. According to AFP, he began his reportages with President Richard Nixon. Woodward, along with his colleague, had exposed the damning Watergate Scandal of the 1970s that led to Nixon's fall.

Now, reporting on Trump, he has remarked that Trump's friendship with Putin, an authoritarian president at war, makes him more unfit for the presidency than Nixon.

"Trump was the most reckless and impulsive president in American history and is demonstrating the very same character as a presidential candidate in 2024," he writes.

Also read | Watch: White House 'disgusted' as Trump blames illegal immigrants for ‘bad genes in US’

Harris reacts to the revelation

Trump's political rival Kamala Harris when asked about the book by radio host Howard Stern on Tuesday (Oct 8) said that during a health calamity that saw Americans "dying by the hundreds every day," Trump sent COVID kits to "a murderous dictator".

"Everybody was scrambling to get kits (and Trump) is sending them to Russia, to a murderous dictator for his personal use," said the Democratic Party presidential candidate.

However, the Trump campaign has slammed the book as "made up stories" by a "demented and deranged man who suffers from a debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome."

(With inputs from agencies)