English water system singled out for criticism by UN special rapporteur

Sandra Laville

THE GUARDIAN
Wed 9 October 2024

Outflow at a sewage treatment works in Berkshire. Arrojo-Agudo said problems with England’s privatised model were compounded by a lack of transparency.Photograph: Maureen McLean/Rex/Shutterstock

The privatised English water system has been singled out for criticism by the UN special rapporteur on the human right to clean water.

Prof Pedro Arrojo-Agudo said water systems should be managed as a publicly owned service, rather than run by private companies set up to benefit shareholders.

In a report Arrojo-Agudo singled out for criticism the privatised English water system and said the regulator Ofwat had shown a complacent attitude towards the financial systems of private water firms.

Matthew Topham of We Own It, a campaign group demanding water be returned to public ownership, said Arrojo-Agudo’s report was a brutal rebuke to the UK government’s strategy on the water industry. He spoke a day after Ofwat ordered English water companies to return £158m to customers after they oversaw the worst year for pollution since 2020.

The environment secretary, Steve Reed, has rejected calls to take the industry back into public control. He suggested it would cost tens of billions of pounds, but used a report by the Social Market Foundation that was paid for by water companies to back up his case. In what critics are calling the reprivatisation of water, Reed is seeking new private investment and has held roundtables with financial investors from across the world.

In his report Arrojo-Agudo said the privatised model in England was compounded by a lack of transparency and a lack of public participation. He said private companies were able to preserve information about their corporate strategy and local institutions were unable to control and regulate operators effectively because of the power imbalance, as well as a lack of political will on the part of those in power, who were often co-opted or captured by the operators.

Arrojo-Agudo said Ofwat was a costly regulatory institution that was not transparent. “The lack of transparency and public participation, and its complacency towards the financial strategies of private companies to benefit their shareholders at the detriment of the service received by the public, call into question its effectiveness,” he said.

Arrojo-Agudo said water companies should be non-profit with public-public partnerships, public investment and new participatory management models to involve civil society groups. England’s privatised system was picked out as anomaly; he said more than 90% of the world’s cities ran water in public ownership and increasingly members of the public were being given a voice on the company boards.

In Paris, he said, water was 100% municipally owned. “The French capital has demonstrated the transformative power of public ownership, prioritising human rights, reinvesting profits into the system, ensuring transparent governance, reducing tariffs and increasing its self-financing capacity,” said Arrojo-Agudo.

The customer satisfaction rate of the publicly owned Eau de Paris ranged from 90-96%.

Arrojo-Agudo said water and sanitation services were natural monopolies and market competition was not possible, whether management was privatised or not.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has been contacted for comment.

The long walk for water in the parched Colombian Amazon

David SALAZAR
Wed 9 October 2024 

Massive, sandy banks have been exposed along the drought-stricken Amazon, making boat captains nervous of getting stuck and reducing the flow of commerce (Luis ACOSTA) (Luis ACOSTA/AFP/AFP)

Bearing six-liter bottles of water on their shoulders, members of Colombia's Indigenous Yagua community tramp along the dried-up riverbed of a branch of the mighty Amazon.

In the Three Frontiers region, where Colombia borders Brazil and Peru, the flow in some spots of the world's biggest river by volume has shrunk by 90 percent, leaving a desert of brown sand etched with ripples.

Near the Colombian border town of Leticia, the 600 inhabitants of a Yagua village have found themselves staring out over a kilometer-wide (.6-mile) pop-up beach.

Before the smaller of two branches of the Amazon that flow past Leticia started to dry up three months ago, it took the villagers only around 15 minutes to reach the shores of the river.

Now they have to walk for two hours under the baking sun to reach the docking point for boats that bring food, fuel and drinking water on the only route in and out of the jungle.

"This is a really difficult time," Victor Facelino, a 52-year-old Yagua man told AFP as he lugged home a water canister donated by the state to help quench the thirst of people living in the world's biggest rainforest.

"Sometimes we get bogged down in the sand," he said, panting.

Colombia's National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD) blames the Amazon's worst drought in nearly 20 years for the dramatic shrinkage of the river in the Three Frontiers region.

"For many of these communities, the only means of transport is the river, and with the drying up of the tributaries, they are completely cut off," UNGRD director Carlos Carrillo said.

- 'Like before' -

The governor of the Colombian department of Amazonas, a 109,000-square-kilometer chunk of forest, said the drought was the "worst climate crisis" ever seen in the area.

It coincides with the worst wildfire season in the Amazon in nearly 20 years, according to Europe's Copernicus climate observatory.

On the Peruvian side of the border, several towns have reported food shortages.

On the Brazilian side, which is choking under fumes from fires, authorities have declared a "critical situation," with the low levels of water at a hydropower station that generates 11 percent of the country's electricity causing particular concern.

The logistical difficulties have caused the price of basic goods, including fuel, to rocket. Fishermen are forced to travel ever further upriver to cast their nets.

"If you look along the river, everywhere you go it's dry," Roel Pacaya, a 50-year-old fisherman in the town of Puerto Narino, complained.

Maria Soria, a Yagua woman who makes a living selling handicrafts on Monkey Island, a natural reserve in the Colombian Amazon, is worried that soon "all the river will start to dry up."

"I ask God to change it back to the way it was, so that we can live like before," said the 55-year-old, wearing a traditional blue-feathered headdress and chest covering of palm fiber to perform a dance for a small group of tourists.

- Going with the flow -

Even for those who still have river access, things aren’t easy.

Eudocia Moran, 59, said she feels imprisoned by the now stagnant waters of the Amazon that lie just a few meters from her home.

Shopping trips to Leticia, about 30 miles down the river have become rarer, with boat operators fearing getting stranded in the sand.

Moran, a leader of the Ticuna Indigenous community, is convinced that the solution is a return to the land.

Rather than relying on an ever slower trickle of tourists, she believes the only way to survive is to "immerse ourselves fully in agriculture."

In a garden irrigated by a sliver of the river she grows cassava, beans, corn and fruit.

"I tell everyone we have go with the flow of the times, because all we can do is learn to live."

das/lv/cb/nro

Uganda lost up to $1.6 billion due to anti-LGBTQ+ law, study suggests

Beatrice Fanucci
Wed 9 October 2024

This article is about Uganda losing $1.6 billion because of the anti-LGBTQ+ law. In the photo, a Ugandan flag with the sky in the background. Via Shutterstock - Knight00730

According to a new study, the anti-LGBTQ+ law passed in Uganda in May 2023 caused the country to lose over $1.6 billion in the first 12 months since it was introduced. The law is considered one of the most extreme anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in the world and even includes the death penalty.

The Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 was signed into law in May last year by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. While same-sex relationships were already criminalised in the country due to colonial-era legislation, the new measures saw some of the harshest punishments in the world introduced for offenders.

Under the law, engaging in same-sex sexual relationships can result in life in prison, and those found guilty of “aggravated homosexuality”, which includes having sex while HIV Positive, face the death penalty. Additionally, campaigning for LGBTQ+ rights is punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment.

The legislation has already caused LGBTQ+ people to lose jobs, be evicted from their homes and lose support from their families. In addition to this, it has also had a strong negative impact on the country’s economy. A report released by Open for Business, a coalition of global businesses dedicated to inclusion, shows that the anti-LGBTQ+ law caused Uganda to lose between $470 million and $1.6 billion in the first 12 months since it was passed.

The losses caused by the legislation include foreign direct investment, international aid, trade and tourism. Soon after the law was introduced, the World Bank, which has been Uganda’s biggest budget support provider, announced that it was halting new lending to the nation because the legislation contradicted its values.

Moreover, the law exacerbates public health challenges, contributing to worsening the public health crisis and causing losses annually. It has also elevated policing and legal costs for its enforcement, not to mention the loss in human capital as people are leaving the country to flee persecution.

This trend is expected to alter the trajectory of the country’s economy in the years to come, with estimated losses between $2.3 and $8.3 billion over a five-year period. According to Open for Business, the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 is making it harder for Uganda to “foster a dynamic and diversified modern economy that is attractive to investors, tourists and skilled workers”.

In a statement, the coalition said that, while Uganda has already made significant losses, the economic situation will worsen if the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 remains in law without changes or steps toward repeal. “These are the steps Ugandan policymakers should be considering in order to future-proof their economy while creating a more liveable country for all citizens, not just those who are LGBTQ+,” the statement reads.

The post Uganda lost up to $1.6 billion due to anti-LGBTQ+ law, study suggests appeared first on GCN.

The hidden underside of an iceberg: Laurent Ballesta’s best photograph

Interview by Chris Broughton
Wed 9 October 2024 

‘The divers are just for scale’ … Ice Monster, taken on the Adélie coast in Antarctica.Photograph: Laurent Ballesta

As a kid, I was fascinated by the documentaries of Jacques Cousteau. There was nothing else quite like them – they were a weekly TV appointment. My family lived not too far from the sea and, although that coast wasn’t great for diving, my brother and I used to pretend we were exploring beneath the waves, like Cousteau. My parents would tell us not to go in the water straight after lunch, and warn us to stay away from crabs and jellyfish. When I got into my teens, I used to complain that they were only interested in going to the beach to take in the sun. I thought if my dad was a diver, or if we’d grown up in somewhere like French Polynesia, I could have learned so much more.

But now I realise that would probably have killed the sense of adventure that still drives me to this day. In my photography, I try to focus on the mysterious – creatures we know little or nothing about. The oceans are full of animals and places that have never been photographed, but reaching them often poses a challenge, sometimes a dangerous one. I think mysterious things inspire more respect than those that are merely beautiful, though. The urge to be in front of something bigger than me, something weird, strange or scary, something I don’t understand, is what pushes me to explore.

The longest dive we did on that expedition was five hours – in water at a temperature of -1.8ºC

In 2010, I became the first diver to photograph a living coelacanth, the fish once thought to have become extinct during the age of the dinosaurs. This particular specimen was in a cave 120 metres below Sodwana Bay, off the east coast of South Africa, where coelacanths are known as gombessa. Since then, my ongoing gombessa project has included several further expeditions, during which I’ve photographed spawning groupers, 700 sharks in a feeding frenzy beneath a full moon, and deep sea ecosystems under Antarctic ice.

Our HQ for Gombessa 3, the Antarctica expedition, was the Dumont d’Urville scientific base. The whole team was aware of what a huge privilege it was to have access to these facilities for three months when the base can only accept 100 people a year, despite having thousands of requests from researchers. Every day, we were coming back with unique images of deep-sea biodiversity.

The metaphor about the hidden part of the iceberg is a common one. While we were in Antarctica, I started to wonder if, for once, it might be possible to literally show that – just the hidden part. There are some gigantic icebergs where you just can’t do that, because they’re kilometres long and are moving, so there’s no way to get a panoramic shot. But I found this little one where the top was trapped in the ice floe on the sea’s surface, so it wasn’t moving. What’s more, the bottom of it didn’t reach the ocean floor, meaning light could pass below. The light on the face of the iceberg was perfect. It’s all natural. The divers with their torches are just there to give a sense of scale. It was as if I was taking a photograph in a studio.

Although this was small by iceberg standards, it was still far too big to fit into the frame of a camera close-up, and further back I couldn’t get an image with any clarity. My solution was to sink a very long line with weights to the ocean floor and create a gigantic net in front of the iceberg at the distance I wanted. Then I had to swim along this net taking a picture at each square in its grid with my wide-angle lens until I had captured the whole scene.

It took my friend and I two days to prepare the net, then two or three hours of diving to get all the pictures. The 147 photographs were stitched together by computer to create the finished image - the first time we had seen the whole mass, which had extended beyond our field of vision as we swam beside it. That was a great moment – when it appeared in its entirety on the screen. The longest dive we did on that expedition was five hours, in water at a temperature of -1.8ºC. It took months for the pain to leave my toes. Nearly 10 years on, they are still damaged – but images like this one make all the pain worthwhile.

This image features in 60 Years of Wildlife Photographer of the Year: How Wildlife Photography Became Art, available in hardback from nhmshop.co.uk

Laurent Ballesta’s CV

Born: Montpellier, France, 1974
Trained: Marine biologist
Influences: Jacques Cousteau
High point: “Winning the Wildlife Photographer of the Year, awarded by the National History Museum in London, four times”
Top tip: “Don’t try to make images that are better than those made by other photographers – just try to make yours different”

THE LAND OF DE SADE

Could the shocking Pelicot rape trial help to finally change French attitudes to sexual violence?

Katherine Butler, associate editor, Europe
Wed 9 October 2024 

The story of Gisèle Pelicot has mobilised people in France.Photograph: Berzane Nasser/ABACA/REX/Shutterstock

It is the trial that has shaken France to its core, and shocked the world.

Dominique Pelicot, a retired estate agent, is accused of drugging his wife Gisèle and recruiting other men online over nine years to sexually assault her at their home. Pelicot has admitted rape. Fifty other men are on trial for alleged rape alongside him.

But it is Gisèle Pelicot, the victim, who has for many people become the focus of this horrifying story. Thousands have turned out in towns and cities across France to demonstrate in solidarity with her and against “rape culture” in France. Last week, Le Monde published a joint “letter” to Gisèle from four members of parliament, calling her “heroic” and demanding a parliamentary debate on how French law defines rape. Her courage has made her a “feminist icon”, the New York Times said.

Gisèle Pelicot has chosen to refuse the anonymity usually granted in rape cases, and attends the trial sessions in Avignon, in order – she says – to shift the shame and humiliation often faced by victims of sexual violence on to the alleged perpetrators.

Angelique Chrisafis, the Guardian’s France correspondent, has reported on such unspeakably violent events as the Bataclan massacre in 2015 and the Bastille Day terror attack in Nice in 2016. Yet, covering the Pelicot case stood out, she told me, because of the scale of the sexual violence, and because such a trial would normally be held behind closed doors away from the media.

That this case is being heard in public is at Gisèle’s insistence. Why has she fought so hard to have potentially traumatising evidence aired this way?

“Gisèle Pelicot wanted the trial to be public to draw attention to the use of drugs to commit sexual abuse,” Angelique said. “That’s why she called for the lifting of restrictions on the screening of video evidence in the trial. Her lawyer said the ‘shock wave’ of this public trial and public video evidence was necessary to show the true horror of rape. He said for Pelicot herself: ‘It is too late. The harm is done. But if these hearings, through being publicised, help prevent other women from having to go through this, then she will find meaning in her suffering’.”

Angelique, whose podcast Today in Focus interview on the case is worth a listen, explained that the trial is also highly unusual because it can’t rely on the victim’s evidence.

“In most rape trials, the alleged rape would be detailed by the victim’s word against the word of the alleged attacker. But in this case, the victim has no word on what happened because she was drugged and comatose with no recollection. Instead, the main defendant, Dominique Pelicot, has admitted rape and meticulously kept video evidence. It is that video evidence which is crucial – without it there wouldn’t be a trial. So often, in other rape cases, there is no such video evidence.”

The court proceedings have highlighted confusion over what constitutes consent and raised questions about online chatrooms and pornography. Gisèle Pelicot has told the court that she could not have consented as she was in a comatose state.

“Some of the men on trial with Pelicot accept that what they did was rape and have apologised in court. But many argue that they didn’t intend to commit rape, saying they thought Gisèle was pretending to be asleep and that they were pressured into it,” Angelique said. “The courtroom testimony has highlighted how society in general has not yet got a clear understanding of consent. The trial has opened a debate on whether to more explicitly spell out the active need for consent within the law on rape in France.”

***

Ordinary men, monstrous crimes

Could Gisèle Pelicot’s conduct and the extensive media coverage of the case mark a turning point for attitudes in France, and perhaps elsewhere?

“Many French writers have said this case marks the end of a stereotype of the ‘monster’ rapist - or the notion that rapes are only carried out by strangers,” Angelique said. “Instead it has highlighted the dangers women face in their own homes and within marriages or relationships. Some of the accused men had notable jobs in society such as local councillor, nurse, prison warden or journalist.”

Some media have labelled Dominique Pelicot “the monster of Avignon”. But among those people who have turned out to demonstrate on behalf of Gisèle or to applaud her in court, many are appalled by the apparently “normal” profile of the accused men. This is why chants include: “We are all Gisèle,” and “Rapist we see you, victim we believe you.” Angelique noted graffiti in Avignon that read: “Ordinary men, horrible crimes.” In Marseille a banner read: “Shame must change sides,” echoing Gisèle Pelicot’s own words.

And could the case ultimately change how victims of sexual violence are perceived?

“An important aspect of this trial and the feminist icon status of Gisèle Pelicot is that she can be seen in many ways as an irreproachable victim: a grandmother who had no knowledge of the attacks she was subjected to.”

“Yet, as happens with many rape victims in court, some defence lawyers have still questioned her sexuality in court and asked if the men might not have thought she was looking for sexual encounters.”

Angelique added: “Gisèle has said she felt humiliated and under attack in court. That this trial is being held in public has allowed more people to experience how a rape trial is conducted.”

One woman who came to court in support of Gisèle told Angelique that the case was “so beyond comprehension” that she needed to understand it. Her conclusion? “Things have to change.”

Nearly half of people convicted of the same crimes as Donald Trump are sent to prison, study finds

Katie Hawkinson
Tue, October 8, 2024 

Nearly half the people convicted of the same crimes as Donald Trump in New York are sentenced to time behind bars, a new report reveals (Getty Images)


Nearly half of the people convicted of the same crimes as Donald Trump in New York state receive prison time, a new analysis finds.

Forty-two percent of people convicted of falsifying business records in New York in the last decade were sentenced to time in jail or prison, a new study from The New York Times found. In Manhattan specifically, that number is closer to one-third, the outlet’s analysis showed.

A Manhattan jury convicted Trump in May of 34 felony charges of falsifying business records in connection with a scheme to silence adult film star Stormy Daniels, whose story about having sex with Trump threatened to derail his 2016 presidential campaign.

On November 26 — three weeks after election day — the former president is set to be sentenced in Manhattan criminal court by Judge Juan Merchan. Trump could face several years in jail. Alternatively, he could be handed probation, community service, a fine or some combination of those options.

Donald Trump in Manhattan criminal court. He is set to be sentenced on November 26, three weeks after election day (Getty Images)

If he wins the election, Trump would almost certainly avoid any jail time for the next four years, and his sentencing could be postponed indefinitely, the Times reports.

If he’s not elected, Trump’s lawyers will likely argue that he should be given a lenient sentence without jail time because of his age – 78 – and the fact that he is a first-time, non-violent offender, according to the Times.

Meanwhile, if Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg seeks jail time for Trump, he could argue for the sentence by highlighting the former president’s other recent legal troubles, the Times reports.

Trump also faces charges in Washington, DC, and Fulton County, Georgia, both related to the 2020 election.

In the nation’s capital, Trump is accused of trying to overthrow the 2020 election, which President Joe Biden won. He faces charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States, obstruction of an official proceeding and deprivation of civil rights under color of law.

In Georgia, Trump and more than a dozen of his allies were charged in a similar case, with prosecutors claiming they tried to subvert the state’s 2020 election results.

In all his cases, the former president has denied any wrongdoing.

In a statement, the Trump campaign said: “There should be no sentencing in this Election Interference Witch Hunt. As mandated by the United States Supreme Court, this case, along with all of the other Harris - Biden Hoaxes, should be dismissed.”

The Independent has contacted the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the Trump campaign for comment.

Donald Trump: 'Wait Until You See What I’m Going To Do' To The New York Times

Ron Dicker
Wed, October 9, 2024

Donald Trump: 'Wait Until You See What I’m Going To Do' To The New York Times


Donald Trump launched an ominous threat at The New York Times, appearing to promise revenge for perceived wrongs. (Watch the video below.)

In an interview shared Tuesday on YouTube, host Ben Shapiro accused “legacy media” of rigging the information flow before the election and “burying” an assault accusation against Doug Emhoff, the husband of Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.

“If that were me, it would be the greatest story in the last five years,” Trump said.

A Shapiro ad cut into the conversation and the interview resumed with Trump venting at The Times.

“The New York Times is one of the most dishonest of all,” Trump said. “I watched this New York Times, and it’s a classic. Wait until you see what I’m going to do with them, you’re going to have so much fun.”

“In three, four, five days, this is the most dishonest newspaper. They are disgusting,” he continued.

The Republican nominee did not elaborate on his plan in the exchange but he has a habit of menacing media outlets over negative coverage or what he perceives to be unfair treatment.

The New York Times recently endorsed Harris for president in a retelling of Trump’s faults and this week pointed out that Trump appeared to lie about visiting Gaza.

As of this writing, it had not reported on the claim made in a British tabloid that Emhoff slapped his then-companion at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival in a fit of jealousy. The Daily Mail interviewed friends of the woman with purported knowledge of the incident. Emhoff’s team issued a denial.

Fast-forward to 19:37 for the portion about “legacy media”:

Trump and Putin have talked as many as 7 times since 2021, new book claims

WHILE TRUMP HAD SECRET WH DOCS AT 

MAR A LAGO

Katherine Doyle and Vaughn Hillyard and Jake Traylor and Jesse Rodriguez and Alec Hernández and Henry J. Gomez and Dareh Gregorian

Updated Wed, October 9, 2024


Former President Donald Trump has spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin as many as seven times since he left the White House, including as recently as this year, according to new reporting by journalist Bob Woodward.

Woodward makes the claims in his forthcoming book, “War,” a dramatic account of the White House under Trump and President Joe Biden that details elements of their relationships with foreign leaders. The book is set to be published Oct. 15.

The book details how Trump’s relationship with Putin has continued as he mounts another bid for the White House amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.

In one scene, Woodward recounts that Trump directed a senior aide to leave his private office at Mar-a-Lago this year “so he could have what he said was a private phone call” with the Russian leader. The aide, who loitered in a hallway outside while the two spoke, told Woodward that Trump and Putin have had “maybe as many as seven” phone calls since Trump left office in 2021.

The account is credited to a single anonymous aide and provides no further details. Trump’s campaign did not respond when asked to comment directly on whether Trump has had any conversations with Putin since he left office. Trump’s communications director, Steven Cheung, in an emailed statement attacked Woodward personally and claimed the book is comprised of “made-up stories.”

Trump told ABC News that the Putin report was "false" and that Woodward had "lost his marbles."

Asked about Woodward's claims, Trump's running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, said Tuesday, “I honestly didn’t know that Bob Woodward was still alive until you asked me that question." He went on to knock Woodward as a “hack” and said that even if the reporting is true, "Look, is there something wrong with speaking to world leaders? No. Is there anything wrong with engaging in diplomacy?”

Woodward also includes an account of Trump’s time in the White House when, at the height of the pandemic, he sent Putin testing equipment for the virus.

The book raises new questions about Trump’s claim that he would end the war in Ukraine if elected, possibly before he even took office. He said last month that his relationship with Putin is “very good,” and he said the same of his ties to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy when the two met at Trump Tower last month. As a private citizen, Trump would need the sitting president's express permission to negotiate on behalf of the U.S. government, and Woodward says he probed the issue with an aide to Trump.

According to Woodward, senior adviser Jason Miller told him in July that he was “not aware” of any conversations between Trump and Putin, but should they wish to speak, “they’d know how to get in touch with each other.”

“[J]ust be very careful that we’re not saying they’re in communication or anything beforehand,” Woodward said Miller told him. “For the purpose of ending a war?” Woodward asked. “But that’s not going to happen, ultimately, not going to happen until President Trump wins on November 5th and it’s clear that he’s coming in,” Miller said, according to the author. “After November 5th, I think President Trump will be able to have it solved or largely solved by the time he gets sworn in.”

The revelations come just weeks before Election Day as Trump mounts a bid for the White House against Vice President Kamala Harris, an election that could determine the future of U.S. support for Ukraine. NBC News obtained a copy of the book.

The book also raises further questions about how Trump would handle the war in Ukraine if he is re-elected and whether he would continue to provide aid to Ukraine, as Harris has said she would. Before his meeting with Zelenskyy last month, Trump told reporters that he would help broker a deal “that’s good for both sides.” Vance has been sharply critical of U.S. funding for Ukraine and of Zelenskyy himself.Critics have long taken issue with Trump's coziness with authoritarian leaders, including Putin. Trump has referred to Putin as "very savvy" and a "strong man," and he praised Russia's invasion of Ukraine as "genius."

In an interview Tuesday on "The Howard Stern Show," Harris reacted to Woodward's reporting on the Covid tests by accusing Trump of "secretly helping out an adversary while Americans are dying by the hundreds every day."

In an interview Tuesday with Ben Shapiro, Trump said it was "a good thing, not a bad thing," that he got along with Putin "very well."

"A lot of people think that’s a bad thing," Trump said. "No, no, that’s a great thing.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com

Opinion

The Kremlin Throws Trump Under the Bus on Secret Putin Gift

Hafiz Rashid
Wed, October 9, 2024 



Donald Trump denies sending Vladimir Putin Covid-19 tests during the height of the pandemic. But Putin himself says it’s all true.


On Wednesday, Kremlin spokesperson Dimitry Peskov confirmed journalist Bob Woodward’s account from his upcoming book, War, that Trump sent the tests, but denied Woodward’s claim that the two had spoken multiple times since Trump left office in 2021.

“We also sent equipment at the beginning of the pandemic,” Peskov said in a written response to questions from Bloomberg about the book. “But about the phone calls—it’s not true.”


Trump reportedly sent the tests to Putin amid a shortage of tests in the United States, and Putin told him to keep it a secret for fear of a backlash against Trump from the American public.


“I don’t want you to tell anybody because people will get mad at you, not me,” Putin reportedly said to Trump at the time.


Trump’s campaign vehemently denied the report Tuesday, calling Woodward a “total sleazebag,” “an angry, little man,” “a truly demented and deranged man,” and “a boring person with no personality.”

“President Trump gave him absolutely no access for this trash book that either belongs in the bargain bin of the fiction section of a discount bookstore or used as toilet tissue,” said Steven Cheung, the Trump campaign’s communications director, in a statement.


Kamala Harris and her campaign seized on the report.


“That is just the most recent, stark example of who Donald Trump is,” Harris said Tuesday to talk show host Howard Stern.

People were “scrambling to get these kits,” Harris said. “And this guy who is president of the United States is sending them to Russia, to a murderous dictator, for his personal use?”


Biden also attacked Trump for the same thing at a fundraiser in Pennsylvania Tuesday.


“Those tests to tell you whether you had Covid were in short supply, so he called his good friend, Putin, not a joke, to make sure he had the tests,” Biden said. “What’s wrong with this guy?”

Trump said at a press conference last month that Ukraine should surrender to Russia and make things “much better,” almost admitting that if he is elected president again, he plans to give Putin whatever he wants. He’s also said that wants to “use sanctions as little as possible” against countries like Russia, Iran, and China.

Kremlin Says Trump Sent Putin Covid Tests While President

Bloomberg News
Wed, October 9, 2024 



(Bloomberg) -- The Kremlin confirmed that former US President Donald Trump while in office sent Russian President Vladimir Putin Covid-19 testing devices during the height of the pandemic, as recounted in a new book by journalist Bob Woodward.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that the tests had been sent, but denied the book’s claim that the two leaders had spoken by phone several times since Trump left office.

“We also sent equipment at the beginning of the pandemic,” Peskov said in a written response when asked about the book. “But about the phone calls — it’s not true.”

The book from the renowned journalist of Watergate fame reports that Trump, while president in 2020, secretly sent Abbott Covid testing machines to Putin when the devices were scarce, according to CNN.

In a statement earlier Tuesday, the Trump campaign pushed back on the allegations, saying “none of these made up stories by Bob Woodward are true” and accusing the journalist of bias.

“President Trump gave him absolutely no access for this trash book that either belongs in the bargain bin of the fiction section of a discount bookstore or used as toilet tissue,” Steven Cheung, the Trump campaign’s communications director, wrote in a statement.

US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris sought to capitalize on the book’s reporting.

“That is just the most recent, stark example of who Donald Trump is,” Harris said Tuesday in an interview on The Howard Stern Show.

The vice president said people were “scrambling to get these kits” during the pandemic, adding, “And this guy who is president of the United States is sending them to Russia, to a murderous dictator, for his personal use?”

“I believe that Donald Trump has this desire to be a dictator,” Harris said. “He admires strong men, and he gets played by them because he thinks that they’re his friends and they are manipulating him full-time, and manipulating him by flattery and with favor.”

President Joe Biden also criticized Trump over the report during a fundraiser for Democratic Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania on Tuesday evening.

“Those tests to tell you whether you had Covid were in short supply, so he called his good friend, Putin, not a joke, to make sure he had the tests,” Biden said. “What’s wrong with this guy?”

Trump’s relationship with Putin has become a target for Democrats, including Harris and Biden, looking to cast the Republican presidential nominee as too cozy with dictators and jeopardizing the security of the US and its allies.

Trump has long boasted about his relationship with Putin, including by claiming that he could broker an end to Russia’s war on Ukraine if he’s elected again to the White House, without detailing how he would accomplish that.

The former president has assailed Biden over Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and Israel’s war with Hamas in the Middle East, saying they would not have happened if the Republican was still in office.

Trump Secretly Gave Putin Covid Tests During Shortage, Book Says

Ryan Bort

HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
Tue, October 8, 2024


Donald Trump’s political persona is based around putting the United States first. The pitch, as with just about everything the former president claims he stands for, comes with a few caveats. Journalist Bob Woodward writes in his new book War, for instance, that Trump secretly sent Russian President Vladimir Putin Covid-19 tests while the U.S. was facing a shortage in 2020.

Woodward, the legendary Washington Post reporter who helped break open the Watergate scandal, writes that Putin even warned Trump not to tell anyone about the delivery, which was intended for Putin’s personal use, “because people will get mad at you, not me.”

That’s not all.

Woodward also writes that Trump has secretly communicated with Putin as many as seven times since leaving office in 2021, describing an instance earlier this year when Trump sent an aide out of his office at Mar-a-Lago so he could talk with the Russian autocrat. The calls are concerning for several reasons, not least of which is that Trump has repeatedly defended Putin’s incursion into Ukraine while pushing Republicans to fight against sending aid to Ukraine.

Trump’s campaign has denied Woodward’s reporting. “None of these made up stories by Bob Woodward are true and are the work of a truly demented man who suffers from a debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome,” campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement, adding that Woodward is an “angry, little man,” a “sleazebag,” “lethargic,” “incompetent,” and “overall a boring person with no personality.”

Kamala Harris responded later on Tuesday during an interview with Howard Stern. “Trump admires strongmen and gets played them because he thinks that they’re his friends, and they are manipulating him by flattery and with favor,” she said, emphasizing that “in the height of the pandemic … people were dying by the hundreds, everybody was scrambling to get the Covid test kits, and this guy who was president of the United States is sending them to Russia, to a murderous dictator, for his personal use.”

Trump has been criticized for his cozy relationship with Putin since he took office, and has long spoken glowingly about the Russian president.

When asked in 2018 whether he believed the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment that Russia had meddled in the 2016 election or Putin’s denial that he had interfered, Trump suggested he believed Putin. “I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today,” Trump said.

Trump has since defended Putin’s war on Ukraine, an American ally. He called Putin a “genius” as he first attacked Ukraine in 2022, while repeatedly claiming the attack would have never happened if Trump were still president. “I actually had a very good relationship with Putin,” he said last year.

Putin is a former KGB agent, and many, including former Trump national security adviser H.R. McMaster, believe the Russian president is exploiting Trump. McMaster wrote in a recently released book that Putin “played to Trump’s ego and insecurities with flattery.”

“[Putin] knew really what Trump’s predilections were,” McMaster told CBS News in August. “One of my roles was to alert him to that — to say, ‘Mr. President, you know, this guy is the best liar in the world.’”



Kamala Harris Addresses Reports That Trump Sent Putin Covid Tests During Stephen Colbert Interview

Zoe G. Phillips
Tue, October 8, 2024 



Vice President Kamala Harris addressed new reports of Donald Trump’s relationship with Vladimir Putin during her appearance on Tuesday’s episode of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.

In journalist Bob Woodward’s new book, released Tuesday, an unnamed aide reported that Trump has spoken with Putin as many as seven times since leaving the White House. Other claims included information about Trump sending Putin COVID-19 tests while he was in office, at the height of the pandemic.

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Harris acknowledged on Tuesday that she hasn’t read the book yet, but said, “Donald Trump — he openly admires dictators and authoritarians. He has said he wants to be a dictator on day one, if he were elected again as president. He gets played by these guys. He admires so-called strongmen, and he gets played because they flatter him or offer him favor.”

She also addressed the COVID tests reports directly. “I ask everyone here and everyone who is watching: Do you remember what those days were like? You remember how many people did not have tests and were trying to scramble to get them?”

She became angry as she continued speaking about her opponent’s connection to Russia, saying. “The commander-in-chief of the United States of America must stand strong and defend the principles that we hold dear. We should stand with our allies. We should strengthen the alliances that we have, such as NATO, which is the strongest military alliance the world has ever seen. We must stand with our friend Ukraine where Russia is attempting to change borders by force.”

Harris added, “And this man is giving COVID test kits to Vladimir Putin? Think about what this means on top of him sending love letters to Kim Jong Un. … He thinks, well, that’s his friend. What about the American people? They should be your first friend.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Colbert asked the Democratic nominee about Hurricane Helene, which recently ravaged North Carolina, and Hurricane Milton, a severe storm headed for Florida. Harris urged people to listen to local officials and criticized politicians who “tell lies” for political gain.

“It’s crude,” she said. “Have you no empathy, man, for the suffering of other people? Have you have no sense of purpose if you purport to be a leader?”

Regarding the Israel-Hamas war, Harris addressed her statement that she and President Biden are close to a ceasefire deal. “Close means that a lot of the details have been worked out but details remain,” she said. “And so there has been some progress, but it is meaningless unless a deal is actually reached, so I don’t want to suggest to you that we should be applauded for getting close at times to a deal.”

The VP also spoke about her debate performance and weighed in on the viral picture of herself with her chin resting on her hand. When Colbert asked her what she was thinking in that moment, she replied, “It’s family TV, right? It starts with a ‘w,’ there’s a letter between it, then the last letter’s ‘f’.”

Together with the late night host, Harris also opened a can of Miller High Life and said, “The last time I had beer was at a baseball game with Doug [Emhoff].”

Shortly after opening the drink, Harris said of her running mate, “He lost millions of jobs. He lost manufacturing. You lost automotive plants, you lost the election. What does that make you? A loser. This is what somebody at my rallies said. I thought it was funny.”

She then quipped, “This is what happens when I drink beer.”

About the whirlwind campaign which only began in July following Joe Biden’s withdrawal, Harris said, “There’s a lot of catching up to do. My opponent, the former president, has been running since 2020 … People are exhausted by that old tired playbook of Donald Trump’s … Folks are ready to turn the page.”

Best of The Hollywood Reporter



Trump disputes report that, as president, he secretly sent Putin COVID-19 testing kit

JONATHAN KARL, KELSEY WALSH, SOO RIN KIM and LALEE IBSSA
Tue, October 8, 2024 
Former President Donald Trump is disputing a report that he has had "as many as seven" phone calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin since he left the White House, and that, back when he was in office, Trump secretly sent Putin a COVID-19 testing kit for his personal use.

Journalist Bob Woodward wrote about the alleged interactions between Trump and Putin in his soon-to-be released book, titled "War," according to the Washington Post and CNN.

Woodward reportedly cited an anonymous Trump aide as the source for his reporting regarding Trump maintaining contact with Putin after leaving the White House.

MORE: As Trump pushes false FEMA claims, officials warn of 'extremely damaging' impacts

In the book, Woodward reportedly wrote that Trump sent a COVID-19 testing kit to Putin at a point in the pandemic when tests were in short supply -- and that, after Putin received the kit, he told Trump, "I don't want you to tell anybody because people will get mad at you, not me."

Trump told ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl that neither happened.

"That's false," Trump said of Woodward's report that he had spoken with Putin after leaving office, and that he had earlier sent Putin a COVID test.

PHOTO: Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks in Milwaukee, Oct. 1, 2024. (Carlos Barria/Reuters)

"He's a storyteller. A bad one. And he's lost his marbles," Trump said of Woodward.

Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung categorically denied Woodward's accounts, calling them "made-up stories" and stressing that Trump did not provide any "access" to Woodward for the book.

"None of these made-up stories by Bob Woodward are true and are the work of a truly demented and deranged man who suffers from a debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome," Cheung said in a statement.

"President Trump gave him absolutely no access for this trash book," Cheung said.

Trump secretly gave Putin Covid test machines, Bob Woodward book says

Martin Pengelly in Washington
Tue, October 8, 2024 

President Donald Trump, left, and President Vladimir Putin of Russia shake hands at the beginning of a meeting in Helsinki, Finland, on 16 July 2018.Photograph: Pablo Martínez Monsiváis/AP


Donald Trump secretly sent Covid-19 testing machines to Vladimir Putin in the early stages of the pandemic when such resources were in short supply, the veteran reporter Bob Woodward reveals in an eagerly awaited new book.

Related: Trump took ‘British naval secrets’ to Mar-a-Lago, says Christopher Steele

According to Woodward, Trump “secretly sent Putin a bunch of Abbott Point of Care Covid test machines for his personal use”.

In response, the Russian president told his US counterpart: “I don’t want you to tell anybody because people will get mad at you.”

Remarkably, Woodward also reports that the relationship between the two men, hugely controversial during Trump’s first presidential campaign and subsequent four years in the White House, has continued since Trump has been out of power, through as many as seven private calls.

The revelations were among many published by US outlets on Tuesday, among them dramatic scenes of Joe Biden warning Putin not to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine and new reporting about how Biden was this summer convinced to step aside as the Democratic nominee for president, clearing the way for the vice-president, Kamala Harris, to challenge Trump in November.

Now 81 – the same age as Biden – Woodward has been a Washington institution since the 1970s, when his work with Carl Bernstein on the Watergate scandal led to Richard Nixon’s resignation as president. Following three scoop-filled books on Trump’s presidency – Fear, Rage and Peril, the last co-written with Robert Costa – Woodward’s new book, War, considers key events under Biden including the Russian war in Ukraine, Israel’s war against Hamas, and political battles at home. It will be published next week.

Excerpts were released by Woodward’s two employers, the Washington Post and CNN.

Though the US and Russia did share medical equipment such as ventilators in the early stages of the pandemic, Trump’s decision to send Putin Covid testing machines would probably have proved hugely controversial if known.

Apparently recognizing this, Putin reportedly told Trump: “Please don’t tell anybody you sent these to me.”

Trump said: “I don’t care. Fine.”

Putin was said to have replied: “No, no. I don’t want you to tell anybody because people will get mad at you, not me. They don’t care about me.”

Trump lost the White House later in 2020 but, remarkably, Woodward says calls between the two men have continued. Earlier this year, Woodward writes, Trump ordered an aide to leave his office at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, so he could hold a private call with Putin.

Worries persist about Putin’s influence on Trump. Robert Mueller, the former FBI director who investigated links between Trump and Moscow around the 2016 election, concluding that Putin sought to help Trump defeat Hillary Clinton, recently said Russia would interfere again this year.

According to the Post, Woodward reports that Jason Miller, a close Trump adviser, responded hesitantly when asked about Trump and Putin’s continuing calls.

“Um, ah, not that, ah, not that I’m aware of,” Miller reportedly said, adding: “I have not heard that they’re talking, so I’d push back on that.”

Woodward adds that Avril Haines, Biden’s director of national intelligence, “carefully hedged”, saying: “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.”

On Tuesday, Steven Cheung, Trump’s communications director, said: “None of these made-up stories by Bob Woodward are true and are the work of a truly demented and deranged man … clearly upset because President Trump is successfully suing him because of the unauthorized publishing of recordings he made previously.”

That lawsuit concerns tapes of calls that Woodward released in 2022 and over which Trump sued the following year. Woodward has sought to have the suit dismissed.

Drama around Woodward’s new book comes less than a month from the 5 November presidential election, when Trump could be returned to office. According to Axios, which cited sources who had seen Woodward’s book, Woodward describes a 4 July White House lunch at which Antony Blinken, Biden’s secretary of state, discussed with the president whether he should withdraw, given concerns about his age and fitness.

Three weeks later, Biden withdrew, a historic decision that has placed a spotlight on Trump’s own age, 78, and mental state. In Woodward’s judgment, according to the Post, “Trump was the most reckless and impulsive president in American history and is demonstrating the very same character as a presidential candidate in 2024.”

And yet Trump and Harris remain locked in a tight race, notwithstanding Trump’s two impeachments, one for inciting the deadly January 6 attack on Congress; his conviction on 34 criminal charges concerning hush-money payments; his other ongoing criminal cases, over election subversion and retention of classified information; multimillion-dollar civil penalties in cases including a defamation suit arising from a rape claim a judge deemed “substantially true”; and proliferating other scandals.

Elsewhere, Woodward’s book reportedly captures Biden’s candid responses to foreign policy challenges.

The president is reportedly depicted calling Benjamin Netanyahu, the rightwing Israeli prime minister who has resisted US attempts to secure a ceasefire with Hamas, “That son of a bitch” and “a bad fucking guy!”

“That fucking Putin,” Biden reportedly said about the Russian president. “Putin is evil. We are dealing with the epitome of evil.”

Russian aggression against Ukraine began when Barack Obama was US president. According to Woodward, Biden believes the man under whom he was vice-president between 2009 and 2017 “never took Putin seriously” – a point of view familiar from reports of tensions between the two men.

“They fucked up in 2014” when Russia invaded Crimea, Biden told a friend, according to Woodward. “That’s why we are here. We fucked it up. Barack never took Putin seriously. We did nothing. We gave Putin a license to continue! Well, I’m revoking his fucking license!”

According to CNN, Woodward reports that in October 2021, US intelligence including material from a precious human source inside the Kremlin “conclusively” showed that Putin planned to invade Ukraine. Biden reportedly told Bill Burns, the CIA director: “Jesus Christ! Now I’ve got to deal with Russia swallowing Ukraine?”

According to Woodward, Biden confronted Putin twice that December, on a video conference and then a “hot 50-minute call” in which Putin “raised the risk of nuclear war in a threatening way” and Biden told him “it’s impossible to win” such a conflict.

Woodward also reports an October 2022 conversation between Lloyd Austin, the US secretary of defense, and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu, about possible use of nuclear weapons.

“If you did this, all the restraints that we have been operating under in Ukraine would be reconsidered,” Austin reportedly said. “This would isolate Russia on the world stage to a degree you Russians cannot fully appreciate.”

Shoigu said: “I don’t take kindly to being threatened.”

Austin said: “Mr Minister, I am the leader of the most powerful military in the history of the world. I don’t make threats.”

In another call two days later, Woodward reports, Shoigu claimed Ukraine was planning to use a “dirty bomb”, a claim the US deemed false but meant to justify a Russian nuclear strike.

“We don’t believe you,” Austin reportedly said. “We don’t see any indications of this, and the world will see through this. Don’t do it.”

“I understand,” Shoigu replied.

Colin Kahl, a senior Pentagon official, tells Woodward: “It was probably the most hair-raising moment of the whole war.”

Woodward also reports that the US struggled to convince Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, that Russia would actually invade. At the Munich Security Conference in February 2022, Harris reportedly told Zelenskyy to “start thinking about things like having a succession plan in place … if you are captured or killed or cannot govern”, then left Germany thinking she might not see Zelenskyy again.

Russia invaded that month. Two and a half years later, the war drags on, Zelenskyy defiant in Kyiv. Democrats, however, warn that given Trump’s close ties to Putin, a second Trump presidency would have dire consequences for Ukraine and its allies.