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President Joe Biden’s colorful nicknames for Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu have been revealed in Bob Woodward’s new tell-all book.
According to the journalist’s latest book War, due out on October 15 and obtained in advance by CNN, the president doesn’t hold back when talking about his former opponent and the Israeli leader behind closed doors.
In the spring of this year, as Israel’s war on Gaza intensified, the president privately called Netanyahu a “f*****g bad guy!”, according to one expletive-laden chapter.
“That son of a b****, Bibi Netanyahu, he’s a bad guy. He’s a bad f******g guy!” Biden reportedly declared to an associate as tensions reached new heights.
According to Woodward, Biden believed Netanyahu was more interested in “protecting himself” than defeating Hamas, CNN reported.
The president also cursed the Israeli prime minister on a phone call after Israel launched an airstrike on Beirut in July.
“What the f***,” Biden said to Netanyahu, according to Woodward’s book.
When it comes to his former opponent Trump, Biden has reportedly also described him privately as “that f*****g a******.”
Biden publicly lost his temper at Trump before when the pair first debated in 2020, but the president was able to keep the swearing under control.
“Will you shut up, man?” he memorably said, when the Republican kept interrupting him on the debate stage.
Woodward’s book also reveals that Biden referred to Russian leader Vladimir Putin as “that f*****g Putin” and called him “the epitome of evil.”
The Independent has contacted the White House for comment.
Elsewhere in War, Woodward’s fourth book since Trump won in 2016, the book alleges that Putin has spoken with Trump as many as seven times since leaving the White House.
“According to Trump’s aide, there have been multiple phone calls between Trump and Putin, maybe as many as seven in the period since Trump left the White House in 2021,” Woodward writes.
And, according to Woodward, Trump secretly sent Putin several Covid-19 test machines for his personal use at the height of the pandemic.
Russia and the US did exchange medical equipment at the time, but Putin reportedly told Trump to keep the deployment of testing machines quiet.
Trump’s campaign has vehemently denied Woodward’s reporting.
“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,” campaign communications director Steven Cheung told The Independent on Tuesday.
“Woodward is an angry, little man and is clearly upset because President Trump is successfully suing him because of the unauthorized publishing of recordings he made previously,” Cheung added.
Attorneys for Woodward have sought to dismiss a nearly $50m lawsuit from Trump, who has accused the journalist of releasing tapes of their interviews for a separate book without his consent. Woodward interviewed Trump at least 19 times between December 2019 and August 2020 for Rage, which was published in September 2020.
In court filings, Woodward’s team has argued that the journalist made fair use of Trump’s interviews, which were examples of “classic news reporting” that advanced “the need to convey information to the public accurately.”
