Trump team in damage-control mode over book
DONALD Trump’s administration is in damage-control mode after senior aides and appointees privately said he was “unhinged”, an “idiot” and has the intellectual capacity of a “fifth-grader”, according to an explosive new book.
The US president’s senior aides are also quoted expressing fears he could come across as a “goddamn dumbbell” and had gone “off the rails”.
The claims come from a new book to be released next week by Bob Woodward, the reporter who helped bring down Richard Nixon as president by exposing the Watergate scandal.
DONALD TRUMP insisted yesterday he was the “exact opposite” of Bob Woodward’s portrayal of him in a new book, as he railed against America’s libel laws in a familiar attack on press freedom.
The president complained on Twitter about the book, ‘Fear: Trump in the White House’, as his administration was forced on to the defensive amid reports officials had struggled to get hold of a copy for hours after news broke of its extraordinary content.
It claims John Kelly, White House chief of staff, disparaged Mr Trump as an “idiot” and suggested the presidency was in “crazytown”.
Jim Mattis, the defence secretary, reportedly told associates that the president had the understanding of a “fifth or sixth-grader”.
Both men denied having said any such thing and a string of other figures lined up to offer their own denials, including Rudy Giuliani and former members of Mr Trump’s legal team. But the broader account of a White House careening towards what Mr Woodward described as a “nervous breakdown” chimes with previous accounts of an administration in crisis.
The White House blamed the depiction on disgruntled former employees.
For his part, Mr Trump, who declined to be interviewed for the book, has tried to discredit the writer and suggested laws should be tightened.
“Isn’t it a shame that someone can write an article or book, totally make up stories and form a picture of a person that is literally the exact opposite of the fact, and get away with it without retribution or cost?” he wrote on Twitter.
“Don’t know why Washington politicians don’t change libel laws?”
Yet the White House response will confirm some perceptions of dysfunction.
The arrival of Mr Woodward’s book, due for publication next Tuesday, had been anticipated for weeks and he followed his own, familiar timetable in releasing its contents to the ‘Washington Post’ in advance. Still, the administration appeared caught off guard.
Philip Rucker, the ‘Post’ White House bureau chief, said the denials focused on only a small number of specific incidents.
“They are not litigating very many details of the reporting and there’s a feeling inside that the president is really upset about this – verging on paranoia – that he’s very bothered about what’s been said about him to Woodward,” he told MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe’.
The book also says presidential aides removed sensitive documents from Mr Trump’s desk to keep him from making impulsive decisions.
And it describes the president’s growing rage at the Russia investigation that has cast a shadow over his White House since his inauguration.
At one point, his lawyer subjects him to a practice interview during which he reportedly contradicted himself and lied, triggering a 30-minute rant from the pres-
Mr Trump tried to discredit the writer
ident. Current and former White House officials estimate that nearly all their colleagues co-operated with the veteran journalist, whose reporting helped end Richard Nixon’s presidency. Rich Galen, a veteran Republican strategist, said the contents may not have that sort of impact but could affect November’s midterm elections.
Mr Trump said yesterday that defence secretary Mattis will remain in his job, a day after a report, denied by Mr Mattis, that he had made disparaging remarks about the president.
Asked by reporters at the White House whether he was considering replacing Mr Mattis, Mr Trump said: “He’ll stay right there. We’re very happy with him. We’re having a lot of victories.”
According to Woodward’s book, the Republican president told Mr Mattis he wanted to have Syrian President Bashar al-Assad assassinated after Assad launched a chemical attack on civilians in April 2017. Mr Mattis told Mr Trump he would “get right on it”, but instead developed a plan for a limited air strike that did not threaten Assad personally, according to the excerpts.
Mr Mattis issued a statement dismissing the book as “a uniquely Washington brand of literature” and saying the contemptuous words about Mr Trump attributed to him “were never uttered by me or in my presence”.
The book follows the January release of author Michael Wolff’s ‘Fire and Fury’, which led to a rift between Mr Trump and Steve Bannon, his former chief strategist.
Mr Bannon spoke with Mr Wolff in terms that were highly critical of the president and his family. Mr Wolff’s book attracted attention with its lively anecdotes but suffered from numerous factual inaccuracies.