WASHINGTON (AP) — A new White House tell-all from journalist Bob Woodward, the election season’s most-talked-about political book, officially went on sale Tuesday as several former aides of President Donald Trump sought to distance themselves from the depiction of a chaotic West Wing.
Former White House staff secretary Rob Porter and onetime economic adviser Gary Cohn both pushed back against “Fear,” which portrays a White House mired in dysfunction, with aides disparaging the Republican president and working to prevent him from making disastrous decisions.
While neither former staffer directly denied details in the book, Porter said in a statement that the book offers a “selective and often misleading portrait.” And Cohn told Axios that the “book does not accurately portray my experience at the White House.”
Speaking to reporters in the White House on Tuesday, Trump praised his former aides’ supportive statements and again labeled the book “fiction.”
Woodward, a longtime Washington Post reporter, has staunchly defended his work in an extensive media tour.
The book reached stores on Tuesday and has been No. 1 on Amazon since details first began emerging a week ago. Publisher Simon & Schuster announced that 1 million copies will be printed, though even Amazon, the nation’s biggest book retailer, couldn’t keep up with demand. Amazon said Tuesday that Woodward’s book was out of stock and would be available to ship in one to three weeks.
Among the revelations in the book: Cohn once removed a document from the president’s desk that would have ended a trade deal with South Korea.
Porter said that suggesting materials from Trump’s desk were “stolen” to prevent the president from taking action “misunderstands how the White House document review process works.” Porter, who exited the White House after allegations of domestic violence became public, says he was tasked with ensuring that “pros and cons were evaluated” on policy proposals and other decisions. He said that doesn’t make a person “part of a ‘resistance.'”
Cohn did not detail his complaints with the book, telling Axios: “I am proud of my service in the Trump Administration, and I continue to support the President and his economic agenda.”
Both Cohn and Porter feature prominently in the book as key aides trying to slow down what they believed were ill-considered presidential decisions. A number of top officials have denied comments attributed to them in the book. Also criticizing the book Tuesday was former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who said on Twitter that “a number of the statements attributed to me and from others to me in the Woodward book are incorrect.” He added: “I would have been happy to correct them if Mr. Woodward or any member of his staff would have called me.”
Porter:
Technically correct, the materials were just taken for review during times Trump was in the oval office, and returned to his desk when he had ‘executive time’
A number of folks both here and elsewhere have commented that they all claim “inaccuracy” but won’t give details.
Betcha they’re busy spinning it to Spankee that stuff was all “taken out of context” while hoping and praying that Woodward won’t get fed up and choose exactly that tape in which their words are given the damning context.
This is why they won’t give specifics: they don’t want to piss Woodward off and providing specific pushback may only give Woodward an opening to playing their words on TV. They all live in deadly fear of this happening.
@lizzymom
The non denial denial
You have to look at the big picture.
Everyone who comes into contact with Spanky knows he is fucking crazy
Woodward was on Mourning Joe and the more you hear the scarier it gets .
The scariest is that the Republican party is using him to run up the deficit to over 1 Trillion and they don’t give a fuck. Don’t get me started on the Russians
We may not recover from the next crash even with a Dem pres and Congress
The line from Christie cracked me up - in that his whole sycophancy towards Trump has been akin to "Call me!?!’ - and here again is that line.
Sums up the line I hope becomes synonymous with his name and his political career from the moment he left the Governship of NJ while still officially having more than a year left of his term and still claiming the title (aka when he left his campaign and joined the Trump Train." Mr. “Call Me” (said with an attempted to hide pleading voice).
Let’s see, you talk to someone that you know is a journalist researching a book he intends to publish, and then when that book is published you are horrified to discover he quoted you? Sounds about right for this bunch of knuckle-dragging mouth-breathers.