### Midwestern Governors Demand Answers Over Allegations of Trump Supplying COVID-19 Machines to Russia

MADISON, Wis. – Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, along with Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, issued a joint statement criticizing former President Donald Trump regarding claims from Bob Woodward’s new book that Trump sent COVID-19 testing machines to Russian President Vladimir Putin during the peak of the pandemic.

In their statement, the governors highlighted the dire circumstances they faced four years ago, emphasizing the lack of support from the federal government as they struggled to secure essential medical supplies for their respective states. They described their desperate efforts to obtain testing kits, ventilators, and N-95 masks amid an overwhelming public health crisis, while the Trump administration did not provide the necessary assistance.

The governors recounted their repeated, yet futile pleas to Trump to invoke the Defense Production Act to manufacture critical supplies domestically. Instead, they encountered refusals and had to rely on private companies and state funds to obtain the needed materials. The statement underscored that Trump’s inaction forced them to navigate sky-high prices set by foreign suppliers.

Reports from Woodward’s book, "War," allege that Trump covertly dispatched COVID-19 testing machines to Putin as the virus ravaged Russia in 2020. According to the book, Trump agreed to keep the transaction secret at Putin’s behest, despite initially expressing indifference to potential backlash.

In response to these revelations, the Midwestern governors condemned Trump’s prioritization of his relationship with Putin over the well-being of American citizens. They called Trump’s actions a betrayal that cost American lives, with 1.2 million fatalities tied to inadequate access to essential medical supplies during the pandemic.

Although Trump’s administration publicly sent ventilators and medical equipment to multiple countries, including Russia, in May 2020, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied the secrecy of the shipments. He noted that many nations exchanged medical equipment at the beginning of the pandemic, and Russia had also sent ventilators in return.

The Associated Press, which previously reported on these equipment transfers, contributed to the information in this report.