Woodward: Watch relationship with Putin in second Trump administration

Veteran journalist Bob Woodward said on Wednesday the public should watch President-elect Trump’s relationship with Russian President Vladimir closely when he returns to the White House in January.

Woodward's new book “War” reported new details of Trump’s relationship with Putin, including that they spoke by phone seven times after Trump left office, and that Trump sent Putin COVID-19 testing systems in the midst of the pandemic, when such equipment was in short supply.

CNN’s Anderson Cooper asked Woodward on Wednesday what he made of Trump's victory over Vice President Harris.

“Well, it’s the functioning of democracy, so he’s president elect,” Woodward said of Trump.

“There are lots of things to watch in what will be the new Trump administration. I just want to cite one of them, and that is the relationship Trump has with Putin, the Russian leader,” he continued.

Woodward recalled a conversation he had a couple months ago with Trump’s former director of national intelligence, Dan Coats, whom Woodward said he asked, “What’s going on in this relationship between Trump and Putin?”

“It’s so close, it seems like it might be blackmail,” Coats said in response, according to Woodward’s account.

Woodward then cited comments from CIA Director Bill Burns, who, according to the veteran journalist, said, “Putin manipulates. He’s professionally trained to do that.”

Burns, according to Woodward, said that Putin’s “got a plan” to do “what he did when Trump was in office previous,” by “playing Trump.”

“So there is much to watch, particularly in that relationship,” Woodward responded.

Woodward noted Trump aide Jason Miller has said he's unaware of any calls between Trump and Putin, but added that Avril Haines, President Biden’s director of national intelligence, did not rule out contacts between the Russian leader and the former president. 

“I would not purport to be aware of all contacts with Putin. I wouldn’t purport to speak to what President Trump may or may not have done,” Haines said, according to Woodward.

The Trump campaign has denied Woodward's reporting broadly.

The book alleges that Trump “secretly sent Putin a bunch of Abbott Point of Care Covid test machines for his personal use.”

Putin told Trump to not tell anybody, according to Woodward, with Trump responding, “I don’t care.”

Trump communications director Steven Cheung has called Woodward "an angry, little man" who is "clearly upset because President Trump is successfully suing him because of the unauthorized publishing of recordings he made previously."

Trump filed a lawsuit in January 2021 accusing Woodward of releasing audio recordings of their interviews without his consent.