WASHINGTON – Former President Donald Trump Since leaving the White House, he has kept a toe in foreign policy and has talked not only with Russian President Vladimir Putin he is reported to have spoken seven times since his resignation, a revelation that has raised eyebrows.
At their homes in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Florida, foreign delegations from Israel and Ukraine sat in front of Trump and his campaign staff as if they were having a bilateral meeting — then made statements to a bank of news cameras. some of the trappings of a state visit.
Sticking to foreign policy allows Trump to argue that he can easily return to office, but it carries risks for Trump, who has faced criticism while in office for his close ties to Russia and complaints about how talkative he was with other leaders. .
In office, Trump has enjoyed one-on-one interactions with other leaders, and he argued at a rally on Wednesday that open dialogue helps reduce hostile adversaries. Asked about that relationship in a podcast interview, Trump said, “The tougher they are, the better I get along with them,” adding that he gets along well with Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. “Others are easy to control,” he said.
For years, Trump has claimed that he would end the war in Ukraine — which Democratic Party critics say would require Ukraine’s full surrender to Russia — and brought back American journalist Evan Gershkovich before he was reinstated. Wall Street Journal reporter Gershkovich was arrested by the Russian government on trumped-up espionage charges and later released by the Biden administration. negotiated a major prisoner exchange.
Trump’s insistence that he could release Gershkovich has drawn doubt this year, especially since US law prohibits civilians from engaging in foreign affairs without government approval, and there was no indication that Trump had contacted him with the blessing of the Biden administration.
According to journalist Bob Woodward’s upcoming book, “War,” Trump is considering new details of his alleged post-departure communications with Putin.maybe as many as seven” times, including earlier this year, the book says, when a senior aide said they stayed outside his Mar-a-Lago office to party after Trump kicked them out of the room. Trump called this account “wrong”.
Trump’s relationship with Putin has caused his criticism political opponentsand allegations of phone calls — four weeks after Election Day — suggested to Democrats hook.
But Putin is not the only foreign leader that Trump is talking about. And it is not unusual for a presidential candidate to initiate some negotiations with foreign leaders.
Trump has hosted foreign leaders at both of his homes, including most recently British Prime Minister Key Starmer for dinner and hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. for the first time in five years. At other times, he spoke on the phone, including in an impromptu call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman this spring or with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week when Iran fired missiles into Israel.
In her new memoir, published Tuesday, Melania Trump detailed how her family maintained friendships with the British royal family in post-White House life and exchanged letters with King Charles “to this day.” Foreign officials at the Republican National Convention this summer He hunted Trump and his allies with abandon.
After the first assassination attempt on Trump in July, foreign leaders moved quickly to wish him well. On Truth Social, Trump published a letter he received from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
Trump and the President of Poland Andrzej Duda Duda sat in New York in April trying to emphasize the urgency of Washington’s support for Ukraine.
Trump hosted Netanyahu and his wife, Hungarian Prime Minister Sarah Viktor OrbanFormer Prime Minister of Japan Taro Aso and former UK Prime Minister David Cameron when he was UK Foreign Secretary.
A US official said it might some of them irritation Regarding Trump’s meetings with foreign leaders, the administration understands the dynamic and acknowledges that it regularly meets with foreign opposition leaders and welcomes them home.
Some Trump contacts, like Orban or Putin, give more pause.
But, for the most part, Trump’s one-on-one remarks remain minor irritants and are looked down upon, provided they avoid any policy.
Other former officials say the talks are long overdue, given Trump’s standing in the polls.
“Appealing to Republicans is smart. It’s smart to engage with Trump’s world,” said Daniel Fried, the top US diplomat for European affairs under former presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. He was ambassador to Poland in the Clinton administration.
Of America’s European allies, he added: “I especially encouraged them to do that.”
Fried said the conversations were helpful in “getting past a lot of the abrasive rhetoric.” And “in many cases, they get to the point,” he said, explaining that Trump’s one-time foreign counterparts told him they were buying American weapons and doing their part and “not just a bunch of freeloaders.”
Trump’s foreign policy adviser, Keith Kellogg, who is likely to be considered for a Cabinet role if Trump wins, said he was merely recommending it to officials seeking input. pick up the phone and put Trump on the line. (Trump’s campaign has emphasized any discussion about who Trump is may appoint a second term not the end.)
However, Fried said Trump’s alleged calls with Putin were different. First, Trump never disclosed the alleged calls, unlike other meetings and talks that were made public almost immediately.
“If this is true, it explains a possible basis for Trump’s surprising confidence in his ability to work things out with Putin, a confidence that seems misplaced,” Fried said. “We know from Putin’s relationship with other leaders that he is a master of playing with their desires and fears.”
He is not alone in voicing skepticism. “It’s really strange that a former president who is now running for re-election would keep these lines of communication active and open,” said Brian Katulis, senior fellow and vice president for policy at the Middle East Institute. Trump’s “poor record in handling highly sensitive classified information.”
Katulis referred to a trove of classified documents that Trump has kept since his time in office, many of which have become the subject of criminal charges related to his ties to foreign leaders. Trump has denied any wrongdoing.
Katulis called it “a US counterintelligence officer’s worst nightmare” and said: “Americans who serve in US national security lost a lot of sleep during Trump’s first presidency when they were careless in sharing classified information with adversaries like Russia.” This alleged record, he said, “risks killing people.”
The allegations in Woodward’s book come weeks before Election Day, but friends and foes alike say they won’t blow Trump’s chances.
“In a normal election environment, these stories can do serious damage,” he said. “In today’s America, half the voters will probably shrug their shoulders and the other half will point their fingers in accusation.”
“The people we’re trying to reach don’t even know who Woodward is,” said a Trump ally about whether the relationship would register with voters.
Speaking at a rally this week, Trump defended his dialogue with hostile leaders, saying it was effective in making progress on intractable situations.
“Biden, he said, ‘Oh, it’s a difficult situation in North Korea,'” Trump said, contradicting his successor, adding that he had “no problem.”
“I got on very well with him; a little rough in the beginning, isn’t it? Remember Little Rocket Man? Trump continued. “Do you remember what he said, I have a red button on my desk? It was a very threatening voice, ‘I have a red button on my desk.’ I said I have a red button too but mine is bigger. I work.’ Then he called me, asked to meet, we met.”
Trump’s campaign said in a statement that foreign leaders see Trump as ready to return to office and want to ensure their relationship with him is strong.
“World leaders want to talk and meet with President Trump because they know he will soon return to the White House and restore peace around the world,” said Carolyn Leavitt, the campaign’s national press secretary.
So far, Trump’s campaign is not saying much about the content of his calls. After communications director Stephen Cheung attacked Woodward’s reports of a phone call with Putin and said the book contained “made-up stories,” a spokesman said the campaign had “nothing to add.” The book also details an apparent gift of Covid-19 testing equipment from Trump to Putin during the pandemic, which the Kremlin claims is true. Trump called the report “false” in an interview with Newsmax on Tuesday.