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In his new guide, legendary journalist Bob Woodward gives a outstanding look behind the scenes at President Joe Biden’s blunt, profanity-laced assessments and interactions with the world leaders who’ve formed his presidency, from Benjamin Netanyahu to Vladimir Putin.
“That son of a bitch, Bibi Netanyahu, he’s a nasty man. He’s a nasty fucking man!” Biden declared privately in regards to the Israeli prime minister to one among his associates within the spring of 2024 as Israel’s struggle in Gaza intensified, Woodward writes.
“That fucking Putin,” Biden stated to advisers within the Oval Workplace not lengthy after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in keeping with Woodward. “Putin is evil. We’re coping with the epitome of evil.”
The guide, “Battle,” additionally reveals new particulars about Donald Trump’s non-public conversations with Putin – and a secret cargo of Covid-19 testing tools Trump despatched to the Russian president for his private use throughout the top of the pandemic. Trump has denied these stories.
Woodward’s new guide, which was obtained by CNN forward of its October 15 launch, provides an unvarnished, in-the-room account of key moments as Biden and his nationwide safety group navigate worldwide crises, from the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal to confronting Putin earlier than he invaded Ukraine to non-public battles with Netanyahu.
Primarily based on lots of of hours of interviews with firsthand contributors, “Battle” is stuffed with newly reported particulars of high-stakes showdowns. The guide explores the political and private wars that Biden has fought throughout his presidency, together with particulars about his choice to step other than the 2024 marketing campaign and conversations about his son Hunter Biden’s authorized troubles.
Among the many new particulars in “Battle”:
– Woodward writes that Biden’s nationwide safety group at one level believed there was an actual menace, a 50% likelihood, that Putin would use nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
– Biden stated he “ought to by no means have picked” Lawyer Basic Merrick Garland throughout a dialog over his son’s authorized troubles.
– Biden criticized former President Barack Obama’s dealing with of Putin’s invasion of Crimea in 2014, concluding that “Barack by no means took Putin severely.”
– Citing a Trump aide, Woodward stories that there have been “possibly as many as seven” calls between Trump and Putin since Trump left the White Home in 2021.
In a press release, Trump spokesman Steven Cheung stated Trump gave Woodward “completely no entry” for the guide. “None of those made up tales by Bob Woodward are true,” he stated.
Requested in regards to the particulars that Woodward stories about Biden and Netanyahu, White Home senior deputy press secretary Emilie Simons informed reporters Tuesday, “They’ve a long-term relationship. They’ve a really trustworthy and direct relationship, and I don’t have a touch upon these particular anecdotes.”
Woodward stories that within the lead-up to Russia’s invasion, the US had obtained a treasure trove of intelligence, which confirmed “conclusively” in October 2021 that Putin had plans to invade Ukraine with 175,000 troops.
“It was an astonishing intelligence coup from the crown jewels of US intelligence, together with a human supply contained in the Kremlin,” Woodward stories. Human sources are among the many most delicate within the intelligence world.
“It was as if they’d secretly entered the enemy commander’s tent and had been hunched over the maps, inspecting the quantity and motion of brigades and the complete deliberate sequence on the multifront invasion,” Woodward writes.
Whereas Biden and his advisers agreed the plan was “useless critical,” it was nonetheless onerous for them — and their allies — to imagine it.
“That is what Putin plans to do,” CIA Director Invoice Burns stated to Biden, in keeping with Woodward.
“This might be so loopy,” Biden responded.
“Jesus Christ!” Biden stated. “Now I’ve obtained to take care of Russia swallowing Ukraine?”
Biden confronted Putin with the intelligence twice in December 2021, first in a video convention after which in what Woodward describes as a “sizzling 50-minute name” that turned so heated that at one level that Putin “raised the chance of nuclear struggle in a threatening means.”
Biden responded by reminding Putin that “it’s unattainable to win” a nuclear struggle.
Regardless of repeated warnings, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed the concept Putin would truly invade, even after Vice President Kamala Harris informed him throughout a February 2022 assembly on the Munich Safety Convention that an invasion was imminent.
Harris informed Zelensky he wanted to “begin fascinated by issues like having a succession plan in place to run the nation if you’re captured or killed or can’t govern.” After the assembly, Woodward writes, Harris stated she was frightened it may be the final time they ever noticed him.
One of the vital dramatic scenes in “Battle” reveals simply how alarmed Biden and his nationwide safety group turned over the prospect of Putin using nuclear weapons.
By September 2022, US intelligence stories deemed “beautiful” revealed a “deeply unnerving evaluation” of Putin — that he was so determined about battlefield losses that he would possibly use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
Primarily based on the alarming new intelligence stories, the White Home believed there was a 50% likelihood Russia would use a tactical nuclear weapon — a putting evaluation that had skyrocketed up from 5% after which 10%, Woodward stories.
“On all channels, get on the road with the Russians,” Biden instructed his nationwide safety adviser, Jake Sullivan. “Inform them what we are going to do in response,” he stated, in keeping with Woodward.
The guide recounts a tense cellphone name between Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Russian counterpart in October 2022.
“In the event you did this, all of the restraints that we’ve got been working underneath in Ukraine can be reconsidered,” Austin stated to Protection Minister Sergei Shoigu, in keeping with Woodward. “This might isolate Russia on the world stage to a level you Russians can’t totally respect.”
“I don’t take kindly to being threatened,” Shoigu responded.
“Mr. Minister,” Austin stated, in keeping with Woodward, “I’m the chief of probably the most highly effective army within the historical past of the world. I don’t make threats.”
Two days later, the Russians requested one other name. This time, the Russian protection minister dramatically claimed the Ukrainians had been planning to make use of a “soiled bomb” — a false story the US believed the Kremlin was pushing as a pretext to deploy a nuclear weapon.
“We don’t imagine you,” Austin stated firmly in response, in keeping with Woodward. “We don’t see any indications of this, and the world will see by this.”
“Don’t do it,” he stated to Shoigu.
“I perceive,” Shoigu replied.
“It was in all probability probably the most hair-raising second of the entire struggle,” Colin Kahl, a senior Pentagon official, later stated of the episode.
The guide additionally comprises new particulars about Trump’s relationship with the Russian president. In 2020, Woodward writes, Trump had “secretly despatched Putin a bunch of Abbott Level of Care Covid check machines for his private use.”
Throughout the top of the pandemic, Russia and the USA did exchange medical equipment similar to ventilators. However Putin — who infamously remoted himself over fears of Covid — informed Trump on a cellphone name to maintain the supply of the Abbott machines quiet, Woodward stories.
“Please don’t inform anyone you despatched these to me,” Putin stated to Trump, in keeping with Woodward.
“I don’t care,” Trump replied. “Tremendous.”
“No, no,” Putin stated. “I don’t need you to inform anyone as a result of individuals will get mad at you, not me. They don’t care about me.”
Trump informed ABC Information on Tuesday that report is “false.”
Woodward writes that Trump has stayed in contact with Putin after leaving workplace.
In a single scene, Woodward recounts a second at Mar-a-Lago the place Trump tells a senior aide to go away the room so “he may have what he stated was a non-public cellphone name with Russian President Vladimir Putin.”
“In response to Trump’s aide, there have been a number of cellphone calls between Trump and Putin, possibly as many as seven within the interval since Trump left the White Home in 2021,” Woodward writes.
Woodward requested Trump aide Jason Miller whether or not Trump and Putin had spoken since he left the White Home. “Um, ah, not that, ah, not that I’m conscious of,” Miller informed Woodward.
“I’ve not heard that they’re speaking, so I’d push again on that,” Miller added.
Woodward writes that Biden’s Director of Nationwide Intelligence Avril Haines “rigorously hedged” when requested about whether or not there have been any post-presidency Trump-Putin calls.
“I might not purport to concentrate on all contacts with Putin. I wouldn’t purport to talk to what President Trump might or might not have performed,” Haines stated, in keeping with Woodward.
Trump denied the reporting in an interview with Newsmax on Tuesday.
Woodward additionally writes about Trump’s choice to run for president once more, together with a sequence of conversations together with his ally and {golfing} buddy, Sen. Lindsey Graham.
“Going to Mar-a-Lago is just a little bit like going to North Korea,” Graham stated. “Everyone stands up and claps each time Trump is available in.”
The South Carolina Republican is quoted as saying Biden “gained honest and sq.” however that Trump “doesn’t like to listen to that.” Woodward goes on to explain Graham’s makes an attempt to offer Trump marketing campaign recommendation for 2024.
“You’ve obtained an issue with reasonable girls,” Graham informed Trump after the midterms. “The folks that suppose that the earth is flat and we didn’t go to the moon, you’ve obtained them. Let that go.”
Graham repeatedly urged Trump to maneuver on from the 2020 election, telling him if he’s reelected, “then January 6 gained’t be your obituary.”
“I gave a speech right now and I solely talked about the 2020 election twice!” Trump stated to Graham a couple of days later, “as if it had proven most restraint,” Woodward writes.
As Trump framed his presidential marketing campaign round worry, Woodward writes that Graham stated of the previous president: “Trump is turning into extra erratic. These court docket instances. I feel they’d rattle anyone.”
Within the aftermath of the October 7, 2023, assault on Israel, Woodward describes the roller-coaster relationship between Biden and Netanyahu. Whereas Biden supported Israel publicly, he fought with Netanyahu behind the scenes over how Israel was conducting the struggle in Gaza.
“What’s your technique, man?” Biden requested Netanyahu throughout an April cellphone name, Woodward stories.
“We have now to enter Rafah,” Netanyahu stated.
“Bibi, you’ve obtained no technique.” Biden responded.
That very same month, Israel launched a strike in Syria that killed a high basic within the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, prompting Iran to launch greater than 100 ballistic missiles in response, the primary time that Iran had fired missiles from its territory straight at Israel.
The US, together with Saudi Arabia, Jordan and different US allies, got here to Israel’s protection. Whereas almost the entire Iranian missiles had been intercepted, Netanyahu wished to retaliate.
Biden informed Netanyahu on a name to “take the win,” although the Israeli prime minister pushed again. “You don’t have to make one other transfer. Do nothing,” Biden stated.
Ultimately, Israel launched a restricted, calibrated strike in opposition to Iran, which Biden thought-about a win.
“I do know he’s going to do one thing however the way in which I restrict it’s inform him to ‘Do nothing,’” Biden informed his advisers, in keeping with Woodward.
However Biden’s frustration with Netanyahu boiled over because the struggle continued to escalate.
“He’s a fucking liar,” Biden stated privately of Netanyahu, after Israel went into Rafah, Woodward writes.
“Bibi, what the fuck?” Biden yelled at Netanyahu in July after an Israeli airstrike killed a high Hezbollah army commander and three civilians in Beirut, in keeping with Woodward.
“You understand the notion of Israel world wide more and more is that you simply’re a rogue state, a rogue actor,” Biden stated to Netanyahu.
Netanyahu responded that the goal was “one of many main terrorists.”
“We noticed a possibility and took it,” Netanyahu stated. “The tougher you hit, the extra profitable you’re going to be within the negotiation.”
Woodward’s guide additionally comprises notable particulars about Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who had been discussing the prospect of normalizing relations with Israel earlier than the October 7 assault.
Within the aftermath of the assault, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken carried out a whirlwind journey by the Center East, attempting to barter humanitarian help for Gaza. By the point Blinken arrived in Saudi Arabia to satisfy MBS, he was exhausted.
However the crown prince, an evening owl, stored Blinken and his group up all evening earlier than lastly assembly. Woodward quotes Blinken saying, “MBS was nothing greater than a spoiled baby.”
In a later dialog, Blinken requested the Saudi crown prince about his demand for a path to a Palestinian state earlier than Saudi Arabia would normalize relations with Israel.
“Do I need it?” MBS stated and tapped his coronary heart, Woodard writes. “It doesn’t matter that a lot. Do I would like it? Completely.”
Woodward additionally recounts a gathering that Graham, the South Carolina senator, had with the crown prince in March.
“Hey, let’s name Trump,” Graham stated to MBS whereas visiting with the Saudi leader in March.
What occurred subsequent gives an interesting window into how the Saudi chief operates and communicates with numerous world leaders and authorities officers. Woodward writes that bin Salman had an aide deliver over a bag with about 50 burner telephones, pulling out one labeled “TRUMP 45.”
Among the many others within the bag, Woodward writes, was a burner labeled “JAKE SULLIVAN.”
‘Ought to by no means have picked Garland’
The guide additionally paperwork Biden’s private and political struggles, together with what Biden calls Trump in non-public, a shocking cellphone name from former President George W. Bush, Biden’s frustration with Obama and regrets about his number of his lawyer basic Merrick Garland.
Whereas Biden hardly ever invokes Trump’s title publicly, referring to him as “my predecessor” or “the previous man,” in non-public, Biden calls him “that fucking asshole,” Woodward writes.
After the disastrous US withdrawal from Afghanistan, Biden acquired a commiserating cellphone name from one other member of the president’s membership.
“Oh boy, I can perceive what you’re going by,” Bush stated to Biden. “I obtained fucked by my intel individuals, too,” Woodward writes.
Forward of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Biden complained that Obama didn’t do sufficient to cease Putin in 2014, when the Russian chief invaded Crimea.
“They fucked up in 2014,” Biden stated to a good friend, in keeping with Woodward. “That’s why we’re right here. We fucked it up. Barack by no means took Putin severely.”
Biden added, “We did nothing. We gave Putin a license to proceed!” Biden was offended: “Effectively, I’m revoking his fucking license!”
Biden has remained fingers off with the Justice Division. However privately, Woodward reveals the president’s anger on the prosecution of his son, particularly towards his lawyer basic.
“Ought to by no means have picked Garland,” Biden as soon as informed an affiliate, Woodward stories. “That is by no means going to fucking go away,” Biden complained.
Woodward additionally describes a scene between father and son on the White Home within the spring of 2022. The president was having dinner with a good friend, when Hunter Biden got here in, sat down and commenced speaking about why he was the particular person with probably the most to lose from the midterm elections.
“Hunter rambled on about his private disaster,” Woodward writes. “President Biden leaned again in his chair, closed his eyes and sighed.”
By the summer time of 2024, questions on Biden’s skill to remain within the race consumed the White Home and the Democratic Social gathering after his disastrous debate efficiency. Over the subsequent a number of weeks, Biden dug in, and insisted he wouldn’t drop out.
Woodward writes that Blinken — who is understood for his loyalty and shut relationship to Biden — addressed the delicate challenge throughout a non-public lunch on July 4.
“I don’t need to see your legacy jeopardized. Anybody who’s written about will get one sentence. That’s the legacy,” Blinken stated. “If this choice leads you to staying in and successful reelection, nice. If it results in you staying in and shedding reelection, that’s the sentence.”
Blinken then requested Biden: “Are you able to see your self doing it for an additional 4 years? You’ve obtained to reply that query.”
Biden, Harris and the ‘f-bomb’
When Biden dropped out on July 21, he instantly endorsed Harris, permitting her to consolidate Democratic help and keep away from messy get together infighting.
He additionally remembered what it was like to not get the president’s endorsement.
“I feel it in all probability harkens again to the way in which Biden felt he didn’t get that from President Obama again in 2016,” Blinken stated, in keeping with Woodward. “He was upset. He felt that, you understand, as his vp that’s the conventional and pure order.”
“Battle” gives a glimpse into Harris’ non-public dealings with Biden as his vp. Woodward writes that at one level she was involved about Biden’s isolation and referred to as one among his closest associates.
“I’m calling to ask you — to actually beg you, truly — may you please speak to the president greater than you speak to him?” Harris stated to Biden’s good friend. “Your president actually loves you. It’s best to speak to him extra typically than you do.”
Woodward writes: “The Biden affiliate was candid with the vp. Look, one of many greatest causes that Biden calls me, the affiliate stated, is I present him a degree of consolation to the purpose the place he can swear freely about ‘what a fucking asshole Joe Manchin is.’”
The vp laughed. “That may be the one motive that he nonetheless actually is snug with me to some extent,” Harris stated, in keeping with Woodward, “as a result of he is aware of that I’m the one particular person round who is aware of methods to correctly pronounce the phrase motherfucker.”
This story has been up to date with further response.