Some pretty explosive details are leaking from Bob Woodward’s new book, “Fear: Trump in the White House.” The book hits the shelves a week from today, but two reporters from the Washington Post got a chance to preview the book, Philip Rucker and Robert Costa.
BREAKING —> Bob Woodward’s new book reveals a ‘nervous breakdown’ of Trump’s presidency. WaPo has all the details here. My latest with @costareports https://t.co/Z7f0JztRS4
— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) September 4, 2018
One of the things that will perhaps get under Donald Trump’s skin the most is this quote from his Chief-of-Staff.
"He’s an idiot. It’s pointless to try to convince him of anything. He’s gone off the rails. We’re in Crazytown. I don’t even know why any of us are here. This is the worst job I’ve ever had." https://t.co/W6WHwjo7ub
— Philip Bump (@pbump) September 4, 2018
Some accounts of the book say it outlines a “national emergency.”
"Woodward uses confidential background interviews to illustrate how some of the President's top advisers view him as a danger to national security…"
Let me repeat that: "Some of the President's top advisers view him as a danger to national security."https://t.co/9gwUbOubG2
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) September 4, 2018
Read the complete review here, but here are some of the other striking quotes.
On North Korea. The Washington Post reports:
At a National Security Council meeting on Jan. 19, Trump disregarded the significance of the massive U.S. military presence on the Korean Peninsula, including a special intelligence operation that allows the United States to detect a North Korean missile launch in seven seconds vs. 15 minutes from Alaska, according to Woodward. Trump questioned why the government was spending resources in the region at all.
“We’re doing this in order to prevent World War III,” Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told him.
After Trump left the meeting, Woodward recounts, “Mattis was particularly exasperated and alarmed, telling close associates that the president acted like — and had the understanding of — ‘a fifth- or sixth-grader.’ ”
On Syria:
Read the Woodward book twice. Explosive reporting. Vivid scenes in every chapter. Includes documents, dates, details. Top Trump advisers took papers off of the president's desk to stop him from making decisions. Mattis ignored his order to kill Assad.
— Robert Costa (@costareports) September 4, 2018
On Charlottesville:
Bob Woodward reports President Trump regretted giving a speech condemning violence in Charlottesville: “That was the biggest fucking mistake I’ve made” and the “worst speech I’ve ever given,” according to Woodward’s account
— Kasie Hunt (@kasie) September 4, 2018
On Attorney General Jeff Sessions:
“This guy is mentally retarded. He’s this dumb Southerner. … He couldn’t even be a one-person country lawyer down in Alabama." — Trump, on Sessions, re Woodward's new book. https://t.co/ZvZksSzmDh
— Ashley Parker (@AshleyRParker) September 4, 2018