White House aides bust Trump for 'fawning' call to Putin where he babbled on and on: report

A damning new exposé in the Washington Post reveals that White House aides were horrified by many of President Donald Trump's diplomatic calls to foreign leaders — with one official saying that Trump's phone calls were "embarrassing," "huge mistakes," and destroyed "months and months of work" by career diplomats.

In particular, aides cited the president's first ever call to Russian President Vladimir Putin as president — which, according to Post reporters Carol Leonig, Shane Harris, and Josh Dawsey, was a disaster.

"On Jan. 28, Trump called Putin for what should have been a routine formality: accepting a foreign leader’s congratulations," they wrote. "Former White House officials described Trump as 'obsequious' and 'fawning,' but said he also rambled off into different topics without any clear point, while Putin appeared to stick to formal talking points for a first official exchange."