Adultery prank calls and burgers in bed: book tells of a White House in chaos
AS SEAN SPICER, the incoming White House press secretary, said on the first day of the Trump presidency: “You can’t make this s--- up.”
The chaos that then engulfed the White House was recorded by Michael Wolff, the journalist with a front-row seat to one of the greatest real-life soap operas of modern times.
Mr Wolff was Rupert Murdoch’s biographer and first interviewed Mr Trump in June 2016 for The Hollywood Reporter. Mr Trump loved the magazine’s cover of him in mirrored sunglasses. Mr Wolff proposed writing a fly-on-the-wall account of the Trump administration. Never publicity-shy, Mr Trump told the author to “knock yourself out”. He conducted 200 interviews with senior staff, with explosive results.
Mr Trump talked about sleeping with friends’ wives
According to Mr Wolff ’s book, the president said sleeping with friends’ wives made “life worth living”. He also described a ruse in which he would call the wives, and leave the line on speakerphone, then invite their husbands to his office. According to Mr Wolff, he would say to the men: “I have girls coming in from Los Angeles at three o’clock. We can go upstairs and have a great time. I promise.”
He never wanted to be president
Mr Trump’s wife Melania was in tears when he won the election, while he seemed “horrified” and looked like he had “seen a ghost” because they expected a defeat, it was claimed. Mrs Trump’s spokesman denied claims she had not wanted to be first lady.
The secret to Trump’s hair: Just for Men
Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter, said he used Just for Men dye in his hair, according to Mr Wolff. The colour got darker the longer it was left on, explaining his hair’s “orange-blond” tone.
Mr Wolff wrote how Ivanka often de- scribed the mechanics behind her father’s hairstyle to friends: “An absolutely clean pate – a contained island after scalp-reduction surgery – surrounded by a furry circle of hair around the sides and front, from which all ends are drawn up to meet in the centre and then swept back and secured by a stiffening spray.”
Trump’s friends and key advisers called him an ‘idiot’
Steve Mnuchin, the treasury secretary, and Reince Priebus, the former chief of staff, reportedly called Mr Trump an “idiot”, and Gary Cohn, his chief economic adviser, reportedly said he was “dumb as s---”.
Sam Nunberg, a former Trump campaign aide, was said to have tried to teach Mr Trump basic details about the Constitution. “I got as far as the Fourth Amendment before his finger is pulling down on his lip and his eyes are rolling back in his head,” Mr Nunberg was quoted as saying.
Trump slammed his own advisers
Mr Trump was said to have labelled Mr Priebus weak and a midget, Mr Spicer “stupid”, and his son-in-law Jared Kushner a “suck-up”. However, Mr Wolff writes that the president also told General John F Kelly, in an early meeting, that he was delighted with Mr Kushner’s performance so far and was considering him as secretary of state.
Mr Trump also considered making Anna Wintour, the Vogue magazine editor, the UK ambassador and picking Michael Flynn, the former adviser who quit over Russian links, his vice-president.
Ivanka Trump wants to be president
Mr Wolff wrote that Ms Trump and Mr Kushner made an agreement that, if the opportunity arose for one of them to run for president, it would be her, allowing her to become the first female president.
Trump sits in bed with cheeseburgers
Mr Trump was said to have banned people from touching his toothbrush, and would strip the bed sheets himself because of a fear of germs. The book claims Mr Trump sleeps in a separate bedroom from his wife. He was said to have installed three televisions in his bedroom and to retire with a cheeseburger from 6.30pm.
Mr Wolff reported that Mr Trump was known to repeat the same stories ‘word-forword and expression for expression’