White House says it’s ‘concerning’ if Trump has spoken to Putin since leaving office

American law forbids private citizens from carrying out diplomacy with foreign countries that are in disputes with the United States

In this screen grab from a live video feed, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre briefs reporters on October 9, 2024 (Screen grab / Reuters)

The White House says it cannot confirm whether the US government has any knowledge of alleged phone calls between former president Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin but concedes that such talks would be “concerning” if they have taken place.

On Tuesday, CNN reported that veteran journalist Bob Woodward’s forthcoming book, War, contains reporting which alleges that Trump has kept up contact with Putin in the years since he left the White House.

According to the network, Woodward, citing a Trump aide, writes that the ex-president and the Russian leader have spoken on seven separate occasions, including one instance during which he reportedly asked a staffer to leave the room so he could speak with Putin in private.

Pressed on whether the contact between Trump and Putin would be appropriate, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that she “certainly can’t confirm” whether the administration is aware of any such phone calls.

“But if it is indeed true, are we concerned? Do we have serious concerns? Yes,” she said.

“Let’s not forget it is concerning, especially when we know the former president was lobbying against more aid for Ukraine, to Ukraine to defend themselves against Russia’s aggression. So if true, it is concerning,” she said.

Jean-Pierre demurred once more when asked if was possible that the US intelligence community — which routinely intercepts phone conversations of foreign leaders — could have been left unaware of the fact that Trump and Putin have been speaking.

“I just cannot confirm any of these calls,” she said.

Though it’s not unheard of for former presidents to speak with foreign leaders with whom they had contact during their terms in office, Trump is unique in modern history in that he has done so while running for re-election and actively working to undermine the administration of his successor.

Other leaders with whom Trump has met or spoken with by phone since leaving office include Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, both of whom have taken actions that could be construed as working against the Biden administration’s foreign policy goals.

Former Biden administration domestic policy adviser Susan Rice, who also served as President Barack Obama’s national security advisor and as ambassador to the United Nations, said in a post on Twitter/X that Trump’s alleged contact with Putin appeared to violate the Logan Act, a centuries-old law that prohibits private individuals from engaging in foreign policy.

In a statement, Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung said “none of these made-up stories by Bob Woodward” in his forthcoming book were true, and called the veteran reporter’s latest effort “the work of a truly demented and deranged man who suffers from a debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome.”