Putin allegedly tried to trigger Trump’s germaphobia by coughing in a 2019 meeting, a book claims

The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, seemed to try and provoke Former President Donald Trump’s germaphobia in their June 2019  meeting at the G20 summit in Osaka, Hapan, a new book claims.

According to The Washington Post (who received the book ahead of time), former White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham notes in a tell-all book called I’ll Take Your Questions Now, that Putin used tactics to try and throw Trump off his A-game at the summit.

The meeting, which was closed to journalists, Putin coughed or cleared his throat continuously, prompting Fiona Hill, Trump’s top Russia advisor to inform Grisham that Putin seemed like he wanted to incite Trump’s germaphobia Grisham wrote in the book.

Trump is not a fan of germs and is consumed with things related to hygiene.

“He’ll put a hand up in a gesture of, you should be backing away from him, you should be more considerate, and you should extricate yourself from the situation,” a former Trump official told Politico.

Indy100 reached out to Trump representatives, but no immediate response.

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This is not the first time that Putin has been accused of honing in on the insecurities of world leaders.

Back in 2007,  Putin brought out his large black dog into a meeting with Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, even though it’s well-known that she has an incredible fear of dogs because she was attacked by one in 1995.

The Post also notes that within Grisham’s book,  Putin tried to disturbTrump in other ways during the summit.

Grisham also wrote that she had heard Trump tell Putin, “Okay, I’m going to act a little tougher with you for a few minutes. But it’s for the cameras, and after they leave, we’ll talk. You understand.”

Grisham’s 352-page book contains a hefty list of injustices against the former commander-in-chief and interesting stories about her time in the White House. She claims that he asked her if her boyfriend was” good in bed,” as well as Trump opting out of receiving anesthesia for a colonoscopy at Walter Reed hospital because he wanted to avoid giving power (albeit temporarily) to former Vice President Mike Pence.

The book I’ll Take Your Questions Now is set for publication on October 5.

Read more about Grisham’s book here.