Woodward wrote about this and other experiences in his upcoming book “War,” which media outlets are hyping up as “an intimate and sweeping account of one of the most tumultuous periods in presidential politics and American history.”
Among the details unveiled before the book’s release is that Biden has been extremely critical of Obama’s handling of the 2014 Russian invasion and annexation of Crimea, claiming that the former president never took Russian President Vladimir Putin seriously.
The ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine had its roots in 2014, following the Euromaidan Revolution, also known as the “Revolution of Dignity,” a very contested revolutionary movement that was allegedly backed by Western forces, including the United States.
Biden let his feelings slip in early February 2022, in the lead-up to the beginning of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine.
“They f—– up in 2014,” Biden said to a friend, who spoke with Woodward on the matter. “That’s why we are here. We f—– it up. Barack never took Putin seriously.”
Not long after the beginning of the current conflict in Ukraine, Biden allegedly told advisers in the Oval Office that “Putin is evil.”
“That f—— Putin,” he said. “We are dealing with the epitome of evil.”
Biden knew about Russian plans to attack Ukraine since 2021
In interviews promoting his book, Woodward claimed that, in the months leading up to the beginning of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine in late February 2022, the Biden administration had obtained “a treasure trove of intelligence” proving “conclusively” that Russia was preparing for a major offensive. Woodward claimed that the Biden White House had known about this since at least October 2021, when Putin was preparing to move into Ukraine with 175,000 troops.
“It was an astonishing intelligence coup from the crown jewels of U.S. intelligence, including a human source inside the Kremlin,” alleged Woodward. “It was as if they had secretly entered the enemy commander’s tent and were hunched over the maps, examining the number and movement of brigades and the entire planned sequence on the multifront invasion.”
However, Woodward claimed that the warnings of the U.S. intelligence community fell on ears that were unsure of how to act upon them.
“This is what Putin plans to do,” said Central Intelligence Agency Director Bill Burns to Biden, according to Woodward.
In the aftermath of this revelation, Biden reportedly confronted Putin with the intelligence on at least two occasions in December 2021, first in a short video conference and then in a “hot 50-minute call,” as described by Woodward, which reportedly became so heated that at one point Putin threatened to “raise the risk of nuclear war.”
Furthermore, despite these repeated warnings, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed the idea that Putin would actually attack, even after being warned first by Biden, and then by Vice President Kamala Harris in February 2022 during a meeting at the Munich Security Conference just days before the invasion began.
A suspect has appeared in court charged with the murder of a man in West Lothian.Gary Nicol was found seriously injured in Bankton Lane, Livingston, at about 2am on Thursday 26 September. Emergency crews attended but the 50-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene near Williamston Primary School.Following a post-mortem examination, Police Scotland continued to treat the death as "unexplained".A murder probe was subsequently launched after a team of specialist […]
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