Him It’s a con His staff He’s an idiot
White House hits back at Bob Woodward over book Trump calls a ‘con on the public’
The White House has aggressively challenged aspects of Bob Woodward’s explosive new book on US President Donald Trump’s Administration, which paints a devastating portrait of a presidency careening toward a “nervous breakdown”.
Hours after the Washington Post first reported several key incidents from Woodward’s book, Fear, the Administration mounted a vigorous string of public denials, with statements from top advisers — White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, Defence Secretary Jim Mattis and White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders — as well as from Trump’s former personal lawyer John Dowd.
Mattis called the book “fiction,” and Sanders denounced the tome as “nothing more than fabricated stories, many by former disgruntled employees” without disputing any of the specifics that have been reported in excerpts. Trump tweeted the statements and then suggested the book’s release was timed to affect the Midterm elections in November. “The Woodward book has already been refuted and discredited by General (Secretary of Defence) James Mattis and General (Chief of Staff) John Kelly,” he tweeted. “Their quotes were made up frauds, a con on the public. Likewise other stories and quotes. Woodward is a Dem operative? Notice timing?”
In a statement to the Washington Post, Woodward said, “I stand by my reporting”.
Despite rumours for weeks that Woodward’s latest project would likely paint a damning portrait of Trump and his team, the White House found itself caught ill prepared yesterday. The official pushback initially was slow — coming almost exactly four hours after scenes from Fear, which will be published on September 11, began dominating Twitter.
Trump was furious and asking people who spoke to Woodward, an outside adviser said. “He doesn’t think he can trust anybody.”
A number of current and former White House aides said the book’s depiction rang true, even if they were not sure of every detail. “I’m not sure why everyone is acting so shocked,” one ex-Administration official said. Several officials who spoke to Woodward said he showed up to interviews with documents and memos.
Ari Fleischer, a White House press secretary under President George W. Bush, defended Woodward in a tweet, saying that as someone who has been on the “receiving end” of one of Woodward’s books, and not always favorably, he had no reason to doubt the journalist’s reporting and methods.
“Never once — never — did I think Woodward made it up,” Fleischer wrote. “Anonymous sources have looser lips and may take liberties. But Woodward always plays [it] straight.”