A book by a former Trump press secretary has new details of a 2019 meeting with Putin.
Per The New York Times, it says an aide thought Putin tried to distract Trump with an attractive woman.
Putin has been said to use mind games and other ploys to secure an advantage in meetings.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin hired an attractive female interpreter to "distract" President Donald Trump at the G20 summit in 2019, a new book by the former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham says.
Her memoir, "I'll Take Your Questions Now," set to be released next week, details Trump and Putin's meeting at the summit in Osaka, Japan, according to The New York Times, which published excerpts from it on Tuesday.
Grisham said that during the meeting, Fiona Hill, a White House advisor on Russia who was later a witness at Trump's first impeachment trial, turned to her to point out the ways Putin was trying to throw Trump off balance.
"As the meeting began, Fiona Hill leaned over and asked me if I had noticed Putin's translator, who was a very attractive brunette woman with long hair, a pretty face, and a wonderful figure," Grisham wrote, according to The Times.
"She proceeded to tell me that she suspected the woman had been selected by Putin specifically to distract our president."
Footage of their meeting at the summit that Insider reviewed showed a translator who matched that description sitting opposite Trump.
A video by the Russian state-backed video agency Ruptly showed Trump watching as the woman translated Putin's words into English.
Trump's relationship with Putin was the subject of intense scrutiny during Trump's term, as US intelligence agencies concluded that Russia had launched a campaign to covertly help Trump win the White House in 2016.
Other reports and books have detailed attempts by Putin, a former Russian intelligence officer, to outfox Trump in meetings and phone calls.
Greg Miller's 2018 book, "The Apprentice," said Putin sought to exploit what he perceived to be Trump's personal weaknesses and encourage Trump's fears about a "deep state" of US officials plotting against him.
Trump has expressed admiration for authoritarian leaders such as Putin. Grisham's book reportedly says Trump told Putin at a meeting that he would pretend to adopt a tough tone with him for the sake of the cameras.
In a statement on Tuesday, Trump hit back at Grisham over the claims in the book without addressing any of them directly.
"Stephanie didn't have what it takes and that was obvious from the beginning," Trump said, claiming that she had become "very angry and bitter" after a breakup.
"She had big problems and we felt that she should work out those problems for herself," Trump said. "Now, like everyone else, she gets paid by a radical left-leaning publisher to say bad and untrue things."
Citizen_Kong on September 29th, 2021 at 14:08 UTC »
That tracks. He also took his large labrador to a meeting with Merkel in 2007 knowing she had been bitten by a dog as a child and has a phobia of dogs as a result.
ScrappleSandwiches on September 29th, 2021 at 13:08 UTC »
IMO the weirdest revelation in the book is that Trump likes the music from “Cats.”
doowgad1 on September 29th, 2021 at 12:11 UTC »
At least he used an attractive woman and not a laser pointer...