Trump's 'delusional' conversations with world leaders revealed in astonishing leak to Watergate's Bernstein: He and Putin are like 'two guys in a steam bath,' he trashes Obama AND Bush as 'don't know BS,' and called Merkel 'stupid' and Theresa May 'weak'

President Donald Trump's private calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin sometimes have the tone of 'two guys in a steam bath,' according a bombshell account that portrays Trump as bending over backward to win the strongman's approval.

Putin 'just outplays' Trump during their one-on-one interactions, according to a CNN report published Monday by legendary Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein. During those calls and others with foreign leaders, Trump regularly tries to tout his own wealth and success in conversations which his own aides regarded as 'delusional', according to the report.

At the same time, with Putin he routinely characterizes his predecessors as 'imbeciles' and weaklings.'

Trump also told Theresa May she was 'weak' and called German leader Angela Merkel 'stupid' to her face in a series of 'demeaning' encounters with female leaders, the report claims. 

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President Donald Trump characterized his predecessors as 'imbeciles' and weaklings' during private calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to a new report by Watergate journalist Carl Bernstein

The revelations about the calls are contained in a deeply sourced – though thinly quoted – account by legendary Watergate journalist Carl Bernstein. 

The sources described how former Trump allies including John Bolton, James Mattis, John Kelly and Rex Tillerson became alarmed by Trump's calls and feared that the president was endangering national security. 

The conversations with Putin are part of a web of Trump calls to the leaders of Australia, Turkey, Canada, Australia and western European countries during his presidency that officials who see call transcripts describe as 'abominations.' 

In the case of Russia, one source voiced fears that Trump was squandering the 'advantage that was hard won in the Cold War' by craving Putin's approval. 

Bernstein said that if the notes and transcripts of the calls were made public, even some of Trump's Republican allies in Congress would struggled to defend him. 

Daniel Goldman, a House lawyer during the Trump impeachment inquiry, said officials had gone to the media with their concerns rather than through the 'proper channels' after Trump attacked the whistleblower who first drew attention to the Ukraine scandal. 

'When you take away the proper route through vindictive retribution, you cannot then complain about leaks,' Goldman said.  

Trump won office in 2016 despite media criticism of his repeated praise for Putin, even as Russia was revealed by U.S. intelligence to be orchestrating an election interference and hacking campaign. 

In addition to repeatedly building up his own wealth, as he has done repeatedly in public, Trump would revel in his time running the Miss Universe pageant in Moscow, according to the account. 

Trump had touted a meeting with Putin at the event, although it evidently never happened. 

A source trashed the calls, saying that while Putin destabilizes the West, Trump 'sits there and thinks he can build himself up enough as a businessman and tough guy that Putin will respect him.'

The report came out Monday, days after the New York Times reported that Trump was briefed on intelligence that Moscow had paid a bounty to Taliban elements for killings of American soldiers. 

The White House on Monday denied Trump was briefed about the reported program. 

Trump was described as solicitous of Putin in the calls. Putin is known as a crafty former KGB operator who often holds back in televised encounters with counterparts.   

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Donald Trump told former UK prime minister Theresa May (pictured together on a presidential visit to London in 2019) that she was weak and lacked courage, it is claimed 

On one occasion, Trump's former aide Fiona Hill apparently tried to explain Putin's 'smooth-talking' approach and what the Russian president was trying to achieve. 

However, the president preferred to listen to his daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner, who were also listening to the call and offered more unqualified praise.  

Trump would also allegedly boast about his own wealth, intelligence and achievements in office to leaders such as North Korea's Kim Jong-un and Saudi Arabia's Mohammed bin Salman. 

Two sources said Trump seems 'delusional' on his foreign leader calls, which included frequent contact with Turkey's dictator Recep Tayyip Erdogan - who would allegedly be fast-tracked through to Trump when he called the White House.  

White House aides even grew alarmed that Turkish security agents in Washington were following Trump's movements so that Erdogan would know when to call, the report says. On one occasion, he apparently reached Trump on the golf course. 

In their conversations, Erdogan exploited Trump's lack of knowledge about the Middle East and 'took him to the cleaners', sources say. 

But Trump would also rage at Erdogan over trade and the fate of a US pastor who was arrested in Turkey.

Trump would go after his U.S. predecessors in the calls with Erdogan and Putin, who have both used political power to crush dissent. 

'They didn't know BS,' Trump said of nemesis Barack Obama and George W. Bush.

Trump's calls included frequent derisive comments directly to prominent female national leaders – including German Chancelor Angela Merkel, who has topped the Forbes list of the world's most powerful women.

'Some of the things he said to Angela Merkel are just unbelievable: he called her 'stupid,' and accused her of being in the pocket of the Russians,' according to a source.   

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German chancellor Angela Merkel remained calm in the face of Trump's aggression, sources said (they are pictured together at a G7 summit last year) 

The president's aggressive calls with May and Merkel were 'near-sadistic,' according to a source for the story.  

The calls with Merkel were deemed so unusual that German officials listening in Berlin kept their contents within a tight group. 

'It's just a small circle of people who are involved and the reason, the main reason, is that they are indeed problematic,' a source told Bernstein.   

Former chief of staff John Kelly has called the calls damaging to national security in private conversations, according to the report. 

However, Merkel is said to have remained unruffled - replying to Trump's 'bluster' with a calm statement of facts. 

Trump has repeatedly gone after Merkel publicly over a planned Nord Stream pipeline to pump gas from Russia to Germany. 

Trump has also blasted Germany for failing to meet a 2 per cent NATO commitment on defense spending, which Trump calls 'dues.' 

Earlier this month Trump announced that he was ordering a major reduction in U.S. troop strength in Germany, cutting the number of soldiers from around 34,000 to only 25,000. 

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Trump had regular calls with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (pictured together at the White House in November last year) 

Trump's conversations with former British Prime Minister Theresa May were described as 'humiliating and bullying.'

Among other things, the president disparaged the PM over her 'spineless' approach to Brexit - the issue which dominated May's three-year premiership. He also said May was weak and lacked courage.  

May's encounters with Trump would leave her flustered and intimidated, in contrast to the calm Merkel, the report says. 

May was the first foreign leader to meet Trump after his inauguration in 2017, and the famous image of the two leaders holding hands at the White House appeared to signal a close relationship.  

However, Trump became increasingly critical of May and Britain - rebuking her publicly in 2017 after she criticized him for retweeting the far-right group Britain First. 

Shortly before May's resignation last year, Trump attacked her again for ignoring his advice on Brexit and going 'her own foolish way'. May had previously revealed that Trump advised her to sue the European Union. 

Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison was regularly 'bullied' and disparaged in a hostile and aggressive way during calls with Trump, along with Mr Macron and Mr Trudeau, according to the report. 

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Trump dished out verbal 'whippings' to Emmanuel Macron (pictured together in France last year) after becoming irritated at the French leader's constant calls, the report says

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Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison was regularly 'bullied' and disparaged during calls with Trump, according to the report

Sources said calls with the Australian prime minister, as well as those with the leaders of the UK, France, Germany, Australia and Canada, typically began with Trump establishing a grievance.

'With almost every problem, all it takes [in his phone calls] is someone asking him to do something as President on behalf of the United States and he doesn't see it that way, he goes to being ripped off,' a US official said. 

A spokesman for Morrison denied the claims, saying: 'The Prime Minister has only ever had polite, respectful and positive calls with the President'. 

Morrison was recently among the few world leaders to voice sympathy with Trump over his criticisms of the World Health Organization, although he stopped short of pulling funds from the WHO as Trump has done.   

Sources said there are records of the calls taken by professional notetakers, along with voice-generated computer texts.

Detailed notes of Trump's call with the president of Ukraine became a prime feature of his impeachment. 

Trump said the call was 'perfect,' but Democrats blasted him for trying to pressure a government to investigate his political rival.