WASHINGTON, DC — Bob Woodward, the famed investigative journalist who teamed with Carl Bernstein to break the Watergate scandal in the early 1970s, is out with a damning tell-all book about what exactly goes on behind closed doors in the White House. Excerpts from Woodward's new book, "Fear: Trump in the White House," were leaked Tuesday ahead of its Sept. 11 release. And needless to say, it is chock-full of compelling — often scintillating — details. As The New York Times puts it, Woodward sticks to wooden, fact-based writing, an obvious departure from Michael Wolfe's incendiary 2017 tell-all "Fire and Fury." Like its predecessor, many sources and names in "Fear" are never identified, The Times reported, noting that Woodward has a strong reputation for verifying facts. Woodward paints an unflattering picture of President Donald Trump: bombastic, belligerent and beyond reproach. The unapologetic president of Woodward's book has reckless disregard of the consequences of his actions and little interest in learning about world affairs. He hurls insults behind people's backs faster than he can type them on Twitter. 1. Trump prints out and re-reads his tweets. The pen is mightier than the sword, so the saying goes, so why wouldn't the president re-read his best work, even if it's limited to 140 characters? Woodward writes that Trump orders his most popular tweets to be printed out so he can go back and study them. In one of the more amusing details, Woodward writes that Trump wasn't exactly thrilled when Twitter bumped the tweet threshold from 140 to 280 characters, with the president even likening himself to one of the greatest writers in modern history. Here are the five most compelling details in "Fear." This isn't the first time Trump has compared his tweet skills to Hemingway. In November 2015, a year before the presidential election, POLITICO quoted Trump as saying someone called him the "Ernest Hemingway of 140 characters." "I was the Ernest Hemingway of 140 characters," Trump is quoted as saying. Trump's former chief of staff Reince Priebus called the presidential bedroom — where Trump's Twitter account is most prolific — " the devil's workshop ," and early mornings and Sunday nights, "the witching hour." 2. Priebus compared Trump's White House to a "zoo without walls." Trump's former chief of staff ripped the president for not putting together a better team of advisers, saying he "failed the President Lincoln test" by not putting any political rivals at the table. But of particular interest is what he said in reference to the White House's chaotic decision-making. Things quickly turn sour, according to Priebus, when the wrong people are squished together and left unchecked. "When you put a snake and a rat and a falcon and a rabbit and a shark and a seal in a zoo without walls, things start getting nasty and bloody. That's what happens," Priebus reportedly said. 3. Trump's top aides swipe documents off his desk to prevent him from making catastrophic decisions. Trump's own aides apparently are so worried about the president's decision-making that they literally remove papers from his desk so he can never see them. According to Woodward, former economic adviser Gary Cohn last year snatched a letter that Trump planned to sign that would've withdrawn the U.S. from a South Korea-U.S. trade deal known as Korus. Woodward said Cohn was "appalled" that Trump considered signing the letter. "I stole it off his desk," Cohn told a colleague. "I wouldn't let him see it. He's never going to see that document. Got to protect the country." Woodward described the situation as "an administrative coup d'etat" and a "nervous breakdown" of the executive branch. 4. White House Chief of Staff John Kelly said Trump was "unhinged" and an "idiot." In what is sure to become ammunition for a Saturday Night Live skit and similar shows, Kelly often lost his cool and would tell colleagues the president was both stupid and deranged, assertions that he has since denied. In one meeting, Kelly called Trump "an idiot." "It's pointless to try to convince him of anything," Kelly reportedly said. "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." 5. Trump said the "biggest f---ing mistake" he ever made was to clarify his "both sides" remark following the deadly white nationalist rally in Charlottesville. After the August 2017 rally, Trump made a stunning conclusion that there was "blame on both sides" in regards to the violence that left a counter-protester dead. He faced swift — and fierce — backlash for the remark. According to CNN, Woodward writes that then-White House staff secretary Rob Porter persuaded a reluctant Trump to clarify the comment. Trump eventually agreed and publicly denounced racism, the "KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups." But when a Fox News correspondent said Trump had corrected course and a commenter said he had admited he was wrong, Trump fumed, Woodward wrote. "That was the biggest f---ing mistake I've made," Trump told Porter. "You never make those concessions. You never apologize. I didn't do anything wrong in the first place. Why look weak?" Trump added: "I can't believe I got forced to do that. That's the worst speech I've ever given. I'm never going to do anything like that again." A day later, he doubled down on the original sentiment. It should be noted that the White House said Tuesday that Woodward had "fabricated" stories about Trump. "This book is nothing more than fabricated stories, many by former disgruntled employees, told to make the President look bad," White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said. "While it is not always pretty, and rare that the press actually covers it, President Trump has broken through the bureaucratic process to deliver unprecedented successes for the American people. Sometimes it is unconventional, but he always gets results." Photo credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images<doc-sep>President Donald Trump Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images Trump called Sessions 'mentally retarded' Sessions has often found himself in Trump's crosshairs for his recusal from any involvement in the probe of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. But Trump also criticized Sessions for his Southern accent, reportedly mocking it and saying of his own administration's attorney general: "This guy is mentally retarded. He's this dumb Southerner … He couldn't even be a one-person country lawyer down in Alabama." Trump also called Sessions a "traitor" for recusing himself from the Russia probe, which is led by special counsel Robert Mueller, and putting Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in charge of oversight. John Kelly called Trump an 'idiot' NBC News had reported in April that Kelly called the president an "idiot" behind his back. Kelly denied the report at the time, calling it "total B.S." But Woodward's book repeats the claim, according to the Post. Kelly repeated that denial in a statement on Tuesday. In a small meeting, Kelly reportedly said of Trump: "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." Trump on Gary Cohn's resignation letter: 'This is treason' After Trump said in August 2017 there were "very fine people on both sides" of a white supremacist rally and counter-protest in Charlottesville, Virginia, his former top economic advisor Gary Cohn, who is Jewish, reportedly handed him a resignation letter. "This is treason," Trump said, according to the report about Woodward's book. Cohn stayed on until March, resigning shortly after Trump said the U.S. would impose tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum from a variety of countries. Kelly then reportedly confided to Cohn: "I would have taken that resignation letter and shoved it up his ass six different times." Mattis told Trump the US was trying 'to prevent World War III' Trump reportedly questioned why the U.S. was spending money and military resources in the Korean Peninsula during a National Security Council meeting in January. Defense Secretary James Mattis responded: "We're doing this in order to prevent World War III." Woodward reportedly said Mattis was "particularly exasperated and alarmed" after the meeting, "telling close associates that the president acted like — and had the understanding of — 'a fifth- or sixth-grader.'" Trump's attorney warned him not to testify in Mueller probe<doc-sep>WASHINGTON – White House Chief of Staff John Kelly denied describing President Donald Trump as an "idiot," as Trump and his aides sought to push back Tuesday on a new book by veteran Washington reporter Bob Woodward that depicted the West Wing as "Crazytown." In the first of two tweets, Trump cited denials by Kelly and other aides in claiming that "their quotes were made up frauds, a con on the public." He suggested that Woodward – whom he praised just last month – is a Democratic operative who timed the book to this year's congressional elections. "Notice timing?" he said. Trump also tweeted out written statements by aides on the Woodward book, including one from his chief of staff. “The idea I ever called the President an idiot is not true," Kelly said, adding that the claim "is another pathetic attempt to smear people close to President Trump and distract from the administration’s many successes." Kelly repeated a statement he made in May, saying that he and Trump "have an incredibly candid and strong relationship." Nearly four hours after his first tweet about the book, Trump tweeted again, this time at 11:01 p.m. ET to deny that he labeled Attorney General Jeff Sessions as "mentally retarded" and a "dumb southerner" in what he called the "already discredited Woodward book." "I said NEITHER, never used those terms on anyone, including Jeff, and being a southerner is a GREAT thing," Trump tweeted. "He made this up to divide!" Titled "Fear: Trump in the White House," the Woodward book is scheduled to be released Sept. 11. Woodward, who rose to fame via his coverage of the Watergate scandal during the Richard Nixon presidency in the early 1970s, is an associate editor at The Washington Post, which published excerpts of the book Tuesday. The excerpts described a struggle by aides to rein in Trump. Regarding the fraught relationship between the president and his chief of staff, the Post reported Woodward found that Kelly "frequently lost his temper" over Trump and that he thought the president was "unhinged." "He’s an idiot," Kelly said, according to the Post's account of Woodward's book. "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.” Trump himself said Woodward has "credibility problems" – though the president told the author last month he thought he had always been fair. “I probably would have preferred to speak to him, but maybe not," Trump told The Daily Caller website. "I think it probably wouldn’t have made a difference in the book. He wanted to write the book a certain way.” White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders attributed the book's criticism of Trump to "disgruntled" former aides. More:Woodward book 'Fear' reflects chaos in White House, says Kelly called Trump an 'idiot' The Postpublished what it said was a conversation Woodward had with Trump after the book was finished. The author detailed how the White House rebuffed his requests for an interview with the president. At one point, Trump told Woodward: "You know I’m very open to you. I think you’ve always been fair. We’ll see what happens. But all I can say is the country is doing very well." The White House denials echoed those made about previous critical books, particularly those by journalist Michael Wolff and former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman. In the wake of the White House attacks, Woodward told the Post he stands by his reporting. 'An orange jumpsuit' Among Woodward's other revelations: • Former defense attorney John Dowd and colleagues did not want Trump to testify before Russia special counsel Robert Mueller because they didn't think he could tell the truth. The book discusses a mock interview that attorneys conducted with Trump in which the president fared poorly and that lawyers re-enacted parts of that interview for Mueller himself. “Don’t testify," Dowd was quoted by Woodward as saying. "It’s either that or an orange jumpsuit.” In a statement emailed to USA TODAY, Dowd said he has not read the book and does not plan to address "every inaccurate statement" attributed to him, but he denied he replayed the mock interview before Mueller, that he questioned the president's truthfulness and that he made the remark attributed to him about the orange jumpsuit. • Former economic adviser Gary Cohn removed papers from Trump's desk to block efforts to remove the United States from the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, as well as a separate trade deal with South Korea. In his interview with The Daily Caller, Trump denied that aides have removed documents from his view, saying “it’s just made up” and that “there was nobody taking anything from me.” • Trump told Defense Secretary Jim Mattis he wanted to have Syrian leader Bashar Assad assassinated after evidence surfaced of a chemical weapons attack on rebels in that country; Mattis ignored the request and planned the targeted missile strike on chemical weapons facilities that Trump eventually approved. Mattis denies calling Trump 'fifth- or sixth-grader' Woodward also reported that Mattis once described Trump as acting like a "fifth- or sixth-grader," prompting a denial by the defense secretary. Mattis said in a statement that he never uttered "contemptuous words" about the president and added that Woodward's "anonymous sources do not lend credibility" to his book. In her statement, Sanders called the Woodward book "nothing more than fabricated stories, many by former disgruntled employees, told to make the president look bad." Late Tuesday night, Trump tweeted links to stories by The Daily Caller and Breitbart News that highlighted Mattis' denial of the claims in Woodward's book.<doc-sep>
Investigative journalist Bob Woodward's new book, Fear: Trump in the White House, has already made waves in Washington, D.C., ahead of its release, with President Donald Trump claiming it is based on "lies and phony sources" and the White House branding it a bunch of "fabricated stories…to make the president look bad." Woodward, who is best known for his coverage of the Watergate scandal, has written a number of books about U.S. presidents. He insisted in a phone call with Trump that the book would be "tough" but factual, according to audio of the call obtained by The Washington Post. Here are some of the claims made in the book, which is due for release on September 11: White House chief of staff John Kelly's description of working for Trump is among the notable excerpts that have been shared. The retired general, who took over the role after Reince Priebus was ousted, reportedly described the position as "the worst job I've ever had." "We're in Crazytown. I don't know why any of us are here," he reportedly said. Kelly was known to refer to the president as "an idiot," commenting that "it's pointless to try to convince him of anything," while his predecessor, Priebus, described Trump's bedroom—where he watches cable news and writes furious tweets—as "the devil's workshop." White House staff removed documents from Trump's desk amid national security fears, the book claims. Trump's former economic chief adviser Gary Cohn "stole a letter off Trump's desk," the book claims. Cohn reportedly said he took the letter, which would have withdrawn the U.S. from a trade deal with South Korea, to protect national security. In another instance, Cohn is said to have removed a notification letter from the president's desk that would have pulled the U.S. out of the North American Free Trade Agreement. "I can stop this. I'll just take the paper off of his desk," Cohn reportedly told an aide. Trump's national security team were surprised at how little a grasp he had on world affairs. In one National Security Council meeting that took place on January 19, Trump questioned why the U.S. was spending money on having a military presence on the Korean Peninsula, which included an operation that would detect a North Korean missile launch in seven seconds. Defense Secretary James Mattis told the president, "We're doing this to prevent World War III," according to an excerpt from the book published by the Post. Mattis later slammed the president as having the comprehension of "a fifth- or sixth-grader." The president suggested killing Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad. His comments came after the U.S. suspected Assad's government had carried out another chemical attack in April 2017. "Let's fucking kill him! Let's go in. Let's kill the fucking lot of them," the president said, according to the book. Mattis hung up on the phone call to the president and reportedly told his aide: "We're not going to do any of that. We're going to be much more measured." Trump mocks people who work for him, as well as those he dislikes. The book suggested that the majority of people who worked in close proximity with the president found themselves on the receiving end of one of his barbs at some point or another. Trump said Priebus was "like a little rat. He just scurries around"; suggested Attorney General Jeff Sessions was "mentally retarded" and a "dumb Southerner"; and told Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, "I don't trust you. I don't want you doing any more negotiations…. You're past your prime." Trump wanted to watch golf when his counterterrorism adviser asked to speak to him. Tom Bossert, a former Homeland Security counterterrorism and cyberterrorism adviser to Trump, said he had asked to speak with the president and was then told: "I want to watch the Masters.... You and your cyber...are going to get me in a war—with all your cybershit," according to an excerpt from Woodward's book shared by Axios.