I spoke to Trump for three hours, says author of explosive book
President had claimed he did not talk with journalist as White House reacts angrily to allegations
THE author of the controversial, tell-all book on Donald Trump has revealed that he talked to the president for three hours before writing the exposé.
Michael Wolff, a 64-year-old journalist, said he had discussions with Mr Trump both before and after the tycoon entered the White House.
The comments challenge the US president’s claim that he “never spoke to him [Mr Wolff ] for the book” and did not grant him access.
It came as Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House was released four days earlier than planned after publishers ignored legal threats from the president. New allegations in the book include that Jared Kushner, Mr Trump’s son-in-law, pushed for the firing of James Comey, the FBI director, to protect his family fortune.
The claim is significant because obstruction of justice is one of the grounds for impeachment. A figure close to Mr Kushner denied he encouraged the sacking, according to Mr Wolff.
Other allegations made in the account include that Mr Trump would fly into “uncontrollable, vein-popping, ugly-face” rages at White House staff.
Mr Trump also once said he could become “the most famous man in the world” and considered making Anna Wintour, the Vogue magazine editor, his UK ambassador, according to the book. After 48 hours of legal threats and public rebuttals, the president took to Twitter to discredit the author and his account, which the author says is based on more than 200 interviews.
“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,” Mr Trump wrote.
“Full of lies, misrepresentations and sources that don’t exist. Look at this guy’s past and watch what happens to him and Sloppy Steve!”
The final remark is a reference to Steve Bannon, Mr Trump’s former campaign manager who is widely quoted in the book and who now faces a backlash from Republicans. Mr Wolff used an interview with NBC News to hit back. “I absolutely spoke to the president. Whether he realised it was an interview or not, I don’t know. But it was certainly not off the record,” he said yesterday. He added: “I’ve spent about three hours with the president over the course of the campaign and in the White House. So my window into Donald Trump is pretty significant.”
Mr Wolff joked that his response to Mr Trump’s legal attempt to block publication was “Where do I send the box of chocolates?”, given that the move is likely to help sell more copies.
Mr Wolff also quoted Mr Bannon as saying Mr Trump has “lost it” and said advisers saw the president as a childlike figure who needed “immediate gratification”.
However, questions have arisen about the reliability of Mr Wolff ’s reporting as past criticisms have surfaced. One 2004 profile noted: “The scenes in his columns aren’t recreated so much as created – springing from Wolff’s imagination rather than from actual knowledge of event.”
Others said the claim Mr Trump did not know who John Boehner, the former Republican house speaker, was appears undermined by the fact they used to play golf together.
Bannon, who has spectacularly fallen out with Mr Trump over the book, is now facing the prospect of losing control of Breitbart News, the Right-wing website he runs.
Rebecca Mercer, the billionaire conservative donor who has a minority stake in the site, said in a statement that the family does not support his actions.
Mr Trump tweeted: “The Mercer Family recently dumped the leaker known as Sloppy Steve Bannon. Smart!” The White House has rebutted the book in the strongest terms, calling it “trashy tabloid fiction” which is filled with “false and misleading accounts”.