{"id":117982,"date":"2018-09-10T12:01:17","date_gmt":"2018-09-10T11:01:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=117982"},"modified":"2018-09-07T11:47:23","modified_gmt":"2018-09-07T10:47:23","slug":"bob-woodwards-book-fear-trump-in-the-white-house-the-5-most-explosive-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2018\/09\/bob-woodwards-book-fear-trump-in-the-white-house-the-5-most-explosive-claims\/","title":{"rendered":"Bob Woodward\u2019s Book, ‘Fear: Trump in the White House’ \u2014 The 5 Most Explosive Claims"},"content":{"rendered":"

5 Sep 2018 – <\/em>More than four decades ago, Bob Woodward\u2019s reporting helped shine light on a scandal that ended a presidency.<\/p>\n

If his reporting holds true again, this time in a new 448-page book, \u201cFear: Trump in the White House,\u201d there\u2019s another presidency hanging in the balance.<\/p>\n

The West Wing is in a state of dysfunction, maybe even disrepair. President Donald Trump\u2019s aides and top members of his administration don\u2019t trust him. Trump is a demeaning and increasingly paranoid tyrant with the maturity level of a grade-schooler. National security is at risk.<\/p>\n

Idiot. Liar. Dumb. Little rat. Little baby.<\/p>\n

The few excerpts leaked Tuesday ahead of the Sept. 11 release of Woodward\u2019s book were loaded with insults \u2014 some allegedly made by Trump and others reportedly made about him.<\/p>\n

The White House is simply a mess \u2026 if <\/em>you believe what\u2019s in the book, that is.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo many lies and phony sources,\u201d Trump wrote Tuesday night on Twitter, labeling the book as \u201ca con on the public.\u201d He also questioned whether Woodward was a Democratic operative who timed the book\u2019s release to influence the coming midterm elections.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

This image released by Simon & Schuster shows “Fear: Trump in the White House,” by Bob Woodward, available on Sept. 11. AP<\/p><\/div>\n

Chief of Staff John Kelly, Defense Secretary James Mattis and White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders all disputed Woodward\u2019s reporting, with Mattis calling the book \u201ca product of someone\u2019s rich imagination\u201d while questioning the credibility of Woodward\u2019s anonymous sources.<\/p>\n

Woodward\u2019s response, via The Washington Post: \u201cI stand by my reporting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here are the five most explosive claims so far from Woodward\u2019s book:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \u2018I stole it off his desk\u2019<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    To protect Trump from himself and the world from Trump, Woodward reports that some of the president\u2019s top aides swiped documents from his desk or hid paperwork to stall potential action.<\/p>\n

    In the book\u2019s opening scene, Woodward writes that former chief economic adviser Gary Cohn stole a draft letter from Trump\u2019s desk that would have withdrawn the United States from a trade agreement with South Korea, a decision that aides feared could jeopardize a national security program with the ability to detect a North Korean missile launch within seconds.<\/p>\n

    \u201cI stole it off his desk,\u201d Cohn told an associate, according to Woodward\u2019s reporting. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t let him see it. He\u2019s never going to see that document. Got to protect the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Other aides, including former staff secretary Rob Porter, employed similar tactics, Woodward reported.<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. \u2018It\u2019s either that or an orange jumpsuit\u2019<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      In the book, Woodward reports that Trump\u2019s former defense attorney, John Dowd, put Trump through a mock interview to prepare him for possible testimony before Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller.<\/p>\n

      Why? He didn\u2019t believe the president could tell the truth, according to Woodward\u2019s reporting.<\/p>\n

      When Trump didn\u2019t perform well, Dowd allegedly told him, \u201cDon\u2019t testify. It\u2019s either that or an orange jump suit.\u201d<\/p>\n

      \u201cI\u2019ll be a real good witness,\u201d Trump told him, according to the book.<\/p>\n

      After Dowd disagreed, Trump lost his temper, called the Russian investigation \u201ca goddamn hoax,\u201d and said, “I don’t really want to testify.”<\/p>\n

      On Tuesday, though, Dowd denied that he questioned Trump\u2019s truthfulness and didn\u2019t make the \u201corange jumpsuit\u201d comment.<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. \u2018He\u2019s an idiot\u2019<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        For the second time in a year-plus as chief of staff, Kelly is reported to have called Trump an \u201cidiot.\u201d He has denied both accounts.<\/p>\n

        In his book, Woodward reports Kelly also described the president as \u201cunhinged\u201d and told staffers in his office working for Trump was \u201cthe worst job I\u2019ve ever had.\u201d<\/p>\n

        \u201cHe\u2019s an idiot. It\u2019s pointless to try to convince him of anything. He\u2019s gone off the rails. We\u2019re in crazytown,\u201d Kelly is quoted as saying.<\/p>\n

        In response to Woodward\u2019s book on Tuesday, Kelly said in a statement, \u201cThe idea I ever called the President an idiot is not true, in fact it\u2019s exactly the opposite,\u201d and added, \u201cThis is another pathetic attempt to smear people close to President Trump and distract from the administration\u2019s many successes.\u201d<\/p>\n

          \n
        1. \u2018The guy is mentally retarded\u2019<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a frequent punching bag for Trump over the past year \u2014 and his job is rumored to be in jeopardy following the November midterms \u2014 was singled out in the book as one of the president\u2019s targets for humiliation.<\/p>\n

          \u201cThis guy is mentally retarded,\u201d Trump said of Sessions, according to Woodward\u2019s book. In another instance, Trump described him as a \u201cdumb Southerner\u201d and mocked his accent, Woodward reported.<\/p>\n

          Not true, Trump tweeted Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

          \u201cI said NEITHER, never used those terms on anyone, including Jeff, and being a Southerner is a GREAT thing. He made this up to divide!\u201d the president wrote.<\/p>\n

          Also in his book, Woodward writes that Trump bad-mouthed Reince Priebus, calling his former chief of staff \u201ca little rat;\u201d insulted the wardrobe of former National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster, suggesting he dressed \u201clike a beer salesman;\u201d\u00a0told Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross that he was \u201cpast his prime;\u201d and once questioned the manhood of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, now the face of his legal team.<\/p>\n

            \n
          1. \u2018That was the biggest f—ing mistake I\u2019ve made\u2019<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            Following the August 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, a white nationalist rally that was stained by the death of counterprotester Heather Heyer, Trump faced immediate backlash when said there were \u201cvery fine people on both sides.\u201d<\/p>\n

            In his book, Woodward reports that White House staffers, including then-staff secretary Rob Porter, wrote a second speech for Trump and convinced him to clarify his remarks.<\/p>\n

            \u201cI don’t know about this. … This doesn\u2019t feel right to me,\u201d Trump is reported as saying in the book.<\/p>\n

            But, Trump relented and, two days later in a televised speech, denounced racism. Shortly after, according to Woodward\u2019s reporting, Trump became enraged when Fox News questioned his \u201ccourse correction.\u201d<\/p>\n

            \u201cThat was the biggest f—ing mistake I\u2019ve made,\u201d Trump told Porter, according to the book. \u201cYou never make those concessions. You never apologize. I didn\u2019t do anything wrong in the first place. Why look weak?”<\/p>\n

            He added, \u201cI can\u2019t believe I got forced to do that. That\u2019s the worst speech I\u2019ve ever given. I\u2019m never going to do anything like that again.\u201d<\/p>\n

            More: <\/strong>Woodward book ‘Fear’ reflects chaos in White House, says Kelly called Trump an ‘idiot’<\/p>\n

            Related: <\/strong>Trump calls Woodward’s book ‘a con on the public’; Kelly denies calling president an ‘idiot’<\/p>\n

            Go to Original \u2013 eu.usatoday.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            5 Sep 2018 – More than four decades ago, Bob Woodward\u2019s reporting helped shine light on a scandal that ended the Nixon presidency. If his reporting holds true again, this time there\u2019s another presidency hanging in the balance. Idiot. Liar. Dumb. Little rat. Little baby.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":117983,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-anglo-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}