President Trump spoke with Vladimir Putin on Tuesday and, against the advice of national security advisers, congratulated the Russian president on his re-election to a fourth term. The New York Times has obtained a transcript of the call, published below:

The President: Pozdravlyayu!

President Putin: Spasibo, Donald.

The President: What’s your secret?

President Putin: No secret, Donald. My people love me. I win 77 percent of vote.

The President: You know, I also won 77 percent of the vote, if you don’t count all the illegal Mexicans who voted for Hillary. Plus the gays and blacks. How’d you do it?

President Putin: I arranged for my only serious political adversary, Aleksei Navalny, to be convicted on trumped-up charges of embezzlement so he would be banned from running against me.

The President: Love that. It’s like, “Lock her up,” Russia-style.

President Putin: Yes, though you should be careful to disguise your most outrageous acts in clothing of scrupulous legality and strict bureaucratic procedure. That way masses think everything is correct and nothing is political. Like you did with this man, McCabe. Very well played, if I may say.