The Most Eyebrow-Raising Details About Trump & Putin's Relationship

It's no secret that former president Donald Trump has gotten a little too close to Russian president-turned-dictator Vladimir Putin. Many Americans have become concerned by the relationship between the current Russian leader and former American one, but there are some aspects of their connection that are certainly more worrisome than others.

Donald Trump was undoubtedly an unconventional politician, using his power and position to propel his own personal agenda at times rather than doing what is best for the country he was elected to lead. According to CNN, in his book "War," Bob Woodward explains "[Trump] gives Abbott point-of-care testing kits to Putin. I mean, these are precious assets to anyone in the world, in the country, and he gives it to him for his personal use." Covid testing kits were crucial back in 2020 and 2021, and an alarming number of Americans did not have access to them, yet Trump handed over a whole slough of them as a gift to his European pal.

Additionally, the two leaders had as many as seven private correspondences after Trump left office, all of which Trump kept hidden. In fact, this was a common theme of the pair's relationship. They both wanted to keep the nature of their friendship as private as possible; Woodward goes on to explain in "War" that Putin asked Trump to keep it quiet when he sent him the COVID testing kits.

According to NBC News, Bob Woodward further explained in his book "War" that a Trump aide informed him the former president had stepped out one afternoon at his house in Mar-a-Lago "so he could have what he said was a private phone call."

According to the Washington Examiner, Trump's running mate, JD Vance, said of Trump's conversations with Putin at a campaign rally, "Is there something wrong with speaking to world leaders? No. Is there anything wrong with engaging in diplomacy?" Funny enough, this is a valid point, however it's the secrecy that is the problem; if the conversations were simply for diplomacy's sake, why would Trump need to keep them so private, from even his closest correspondents?

What's perhaps just as alarming are some of the things that Trump has said of Putin on the record. In a radio interview on "The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show," Trump said, "I knew that he always wanted Ukraine. I used to talk to him about it. I said, 'You can't do it. You're not gonna do it.' But I could see that he wanted it." In that same interview, he referred to Putin as both 'Genius,' and 'Savvy.' If Trump is willing make these comments about Putin on the record, one can only imagine what he could possibly be saying in private that he is so insistent on keeping a secret.