"The White House once rated Russia's nuclear weapons as 50%."

It has been claimed that the White House once rated Russia's chances of using nuclear weapons in the war in Ukraine at 50%.

According to CNN's acquisition of a new book by Watergate scoop Bob Woodward, the White House has a 50% chance of using tactical nuclear weapons in despair at the damage Putin suffered in Ukraine in September 2022.

In response, President Biden instructed his national security adviser to contact Russia on all channels to inform him of how the United States would respond, and U.S. Defense Secretary Austin spoke to Russian Defense Minister Shoigu in October of the same year.

"I'm the leader of the most powerful military in the history of the world, I don't threaten," Austin said at the time, when Shoigu responded, "I don't like being intimidated."

In a call two days later, Shoigu claimed that Ukraine was trying to use "Dirty Bomb," a conventional bomb containing radioactive materials, and when Austin, who considered it an excuse to use nuclear weapons, asked him not to, Shoigu replied, "I understood."

The Woodward book also shows that President Biden complained that the war in Ukraine broke out in 2014 when former President Obama did not respond properly when Russia forcibly annexed Crimea.

Biden, who also served in the Obama administration as vice president, told a friend that we messed up in 2014 and that Obama never took Putin seriously.

And we did nothing, and we gave Putin permission to go on, and I said I would revoke Putin's permission.