President misses mark on author’s White House visits

— President Donald Trump on Jan. 4, in a tweet

Trump’s tweet could give the impression that Michael Wolff, author of “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House,” was denied access to the White House entirely. But as Trump’s own press secretary has acknowledged, the author had more than a dozen interactions with administration officials at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Trump never explicitly allowed his visits nor barred him from the White House, Wolff said, which allowed Wolff to exploit this “non-disapproval” to gain access through “various senior staffers.”

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders underscored that Wolff had not been given unfettered access, saying he had been denied more than 30 requests for access, but she did not dispute that Wolff had been “seen often” with former adviser Steve Bannon in his White House office.

“I authorized Zero access to White House (actually turned him down many times) for author of phony book! I never spoke to him for book.”

Our ruling

Wolff had more than a dozen interactions with officials at the White House, according to Trump’s own press secretary. Press corps members also spotted Wolff at the White House on multiple occasions. Sanders also said Wolff and Trump spoke by phone for “five to seven minutes” after Trump became president. We rate this statement False.

OLIVIER DOULIERY / ABACA PRESS President Donald Trump never explicitly allowed his visits nor barred him from the White House, said Michael Wolff, author of “Fire and Fury.”