Rage

by Bob Woodward

  He took me on a tour of his hideaway office, the spot where President Clinton had secretly met with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. The “Monica Room,” Trump called it, and gave a knowing smirk. We returned to the Oval Office for the interview.

  “What’s your relationship with Mitch McConnell?” I asked.

  “Very good,” he said, but provided no details when I pressed. “You know what Mitch’s biggest thing is in the whole world?” Trump asked. “His judges. He will absolutely ask me, please let’s get the judge approved instead of 10 ambassadors.” Trump agreed judicial appointments were the right priority. “We don’t need thousands of people going to the State Department. We’ve got thousands and thousands of people. It’s so ridiculous. I don’t want them.”

  We turned to North Korea, which had recently threatened to send a “Christmas gift” to the United States, with a spokesman saying, “The dialogue touted by the US is, in essence, nothing but a foolish trick.”

  Of Kim, Trump said, “He didn’t respect Obama. Didn’t like him. Thought he was an asshole.”

  I asked why Trump had pivoted to meet with Kim after aiming harsh, warlike rhetoric at him for more than a year.

  “It’s very complicated,” Trump said. “I always ask the one question, why are we defending South Korea?” The United States had 30,000 troops stationed in South Korea. “We’re losing a fortune. It’s a rich country. I say, so we’re defending you, we’re allowing you to exist.”

  I was surprised that he would make such an extreme statement—that South Korea’s very existence depended on the United States “allowing” it.

  “Why are we doing that?” Trump continued. “Why do we care? We’re 8,500 miles away.” Seoul, South Korea is about 5,100 miles from Seattle and 7,000 miles from the East Coast of the United States. “Why do we care? Why do we have our 32,000 soldiers over there, willing to fight for you?”

  The U.S. military leadership believed that stationing U.S. troops in South Korea had maintained the peace in Asia for decades, and the long and successful alliance with South Korea was a bargain.

  Trump said he asked the same question of Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe. “I ask Abe. He’s a friend of mine. I say, why are we defending Japan? You’re a rich country. Why are we defending you and you’re paying us a tiny fraction of the cost? The establishment hates that question, which shows you how stupid the establishment is.”

  I tried to bring the conversation back to Kim Jong Un. What happened at your first meeting with Kim in Singapore, I asked.

  “You know, it was the most cameras. I think I’ve seen more cameras than any human being in history. There’s like hundreds of them. It’s free. I get it for free. It costs me nothing. It’s called earned media. And you do earn it. They say I spent 25 percent what Hillary did but I got $6 billion worth of earned media.” It was actually 50 percent, according to analysis firm mediaQuant.

  “Tell me as best you can recall what happened in Singapore?”

  “The Singapore event was a monster,” Trump said. “They had a thing set up for the media the likes of which you have never seen. I’ve never seen a thing like it. Thousands. Thousands. Do we have any pictures of that?”

  “But I want to see what you think of this man,” I said, trying to bring his focus away from the PR extravaganza to the substance of the meeting. An aide brought in a large 16-by-20-inch photo of Trump and Kim seated and smiling.

  Kim, Trump said, had pledged to work toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. “He has a hard time with the word ‘denuclearization.’ He signed an agreement. He promised me. But he has a real hard time. He backs up.” He found a real estate metaphor for Kim’s reluctance to give up nuclear weapons: “It’s really like, you know, somebody that’s in love with a house and they just can’t sell it.”

  The Singapore meeting was crucial, Trump said. “We really got along. It was a great chemistry.”

  Trump had privately described meeting Kim this way: “You meet a woman. In one second, you know whether or not it’s all going to happen. It doesn’t take you 10 minutes, and it doesn’t take you six weeks. It’s like, whoa. Okay. You know? It takes somewhat less than a second.”

  Trump continued recounting. “We then had a lunch. I’ve never seen anything like it. Every single person was sitting up. A general stood up to make a statement. He snapped to attention. There was no carpet, it was like a nice, beautiful wooden floor. His chair snapped back 20 feet. Hit the wall behind him. I said, holy shit. And I joked, I said, I want you people to act like these people. You know, kidding to all my people.”

  “Kidding, but not kidding,” I said. I tried to verify the story in my subsequent reporting but couldn’t find anyone who remembered it.

  Trump said he told Kim when it came to denuclearization, “I know every one of your sites better than any of my people.” He reminded me again of his late uncle, Dr. John Trump, a physicist who taught electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was awarded the National Medal of Science in 1983. “He was at MIT for 42 years or something. He was a great—so I understand that stuff. You know, genetically.”

  Trump continued, “The top person at MIT came to the office about a year ago. Brought me a whole package on Dr. John Trump. He said he was one of the greatest men. He was brilliant. I get that stuff.”

  “Did Kim Jong Un—if I may ask this—did he say anything that was threatening?”

  “Not even a little bit. No.”

  Trump veered to a new subject. This was when he told me, “I’m breaking China’s ass on trade. China’s gone to a negative GDP.”

  Apparently only one prominent economist, Xiang Songzuo of Renmin University in China, agreed with this.

  Trump veered again, turning this time to Russia. “We could do such great things with Russia, but because of the phony Russia investigation—started falsely and corruptly and illegally now as it turns out—but because of that, you know, we’re held back. And he knows that too. Putin said to me in a meeting, he said, it’s a shame, because I know it’s very hard for you to make a deal with us. I said, you’re right.”

  We ping-ponged between a few more subjects and landed on Afghanistan. Trump’s generals had resisted his desire to withdraw U.S. troops from the 19-year war. “So the first thing the generals tell you when you want to pull out, they say, Sir, I’d rather fight them over there than fight them over here. And if you’re sitting behind this beautiful desk, the Resolute Desk, and you have four guys that look like they’re right out of Hollywood saying, yes, sir—they’ll do whatever you say. I say, what’s your opinion, General? Sir, I’d rather fight them over there than fight them over here. I’ve had four generals say almost the exact same words. That’s a hard line if you’re sitting here and you have to make that decision, when you have guys that you respect making that statement.”

  Trump continued, “But I then say, well, does this mean we’re going to be there for the next 100 years?”

  At the end, he gave me the large, poster-size picture of himself with Kim. He asked one of his aides, “Do you have a round thing for this so he can take it? Or even a rubber band or something. Because you can’t fold it, you’ll ruin it. I don’t even know why I’m giving it to you. That’s my only one.”

  As he had in our earlier interview, Trump told me, “He never smiled before. I’m the only one he smiles with.”

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  “I’m thinking of hitting Soleimani,” President Trump said, pulling his golfing partner Senator Lindsey Graham aside on the afternoon of Monday, December 30, 2019.

  They were on the front nine of Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, four and a half miles from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate and club. Iranian General Qasem Soleimani was the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s violent and covert special operations division known as the Quds Force. He was widely considered the most powerful man in Iran after Ayatollah Khamenei, and the driving force behind Iran’s terrorist act
s overseas. One of Soleimani’s militias had just killed a U.S. contractor in a missile attack in Iraq; the next day, the situation would escalate into a siege of the American embassy in Baghdad.

  “Oh, boy, that’s a giant step!” said Graham, unnerved. Killing Soleimani would be an unexpected play, and a potentially dangerous one.

  Soleimani had menaced the United States for decades. Since 2007, he had been under surveillance by a specially formed U.S. intelligence cell created to target and stop the Quds Force from providing material and training to Iraqis fighting against U.S. forces. Over time, Soleimani became known as one of the most dangerous people in the Middle East, more in control of Iran’s foreign policy than its minister of foreign affairs.

  Soleimani had been in Trump’s sights ever since retired general and former vice chief of staff of the Army Jack Keane told him while he was still president-elect that Soleimani had given Shia militias in Iraq “an advanced IED developed by his engineers and scientists that could penetrate any known equipment on the battlefield,” even a tank. Hundreds of American soldiers had been killed and wounded by the devices.

  Keane told Trump that President George W. Bush’s national security team had asked Bush to authorize the destruction of two bases in Iran where Soleimani’s forces were training foreign fighters. But Bush had refused, Keane said. Bush said he thought he would be impeached if he struck inside Iran.

  Graham, who had become a sort of First Friend to the president, said that if Trump killed Soleimani, he would have to think about what other steps to take to deter Iran from further escalation. “If they retaliate in some way, which they will, you’ve got to be willing to take out the oil refineries.” Graham had reminded Trump for years that oil was the lifeblood of Iran’s economy, the real soft spot. Threaten to take them out of the oil business, Graham urged. But, he cautioned, if you do, “this will be almost total war!”

  The stakes would go up, Graham said. “You kill him, new game. You go from playing $10 blackjack to $10,000-a-hand blackjack.”

  “He deserves it,” Trump said. “We have all these intercepts showing that Soleimani is planning attacks.”

  “Yeah, he’s always been doing that,” Graham replied. “This is what he does. With the election coming, you’ve got to think about how you respond and how you expect Iran to respond.” Threatening military action would have to mean a strike in Iran if Trump wanted to be credible. “That risks major war.”

  Graham had told Trump earlier in his presidency that Iran’s theocratic rulers “would eat grass before they would give up.” But they could be influenced by economics in addition to ideology. Financial pressure and sanctions might cause the people to turn on their leaders.

  Iran was behind both the missile strikes that had killed an American and the militias that had stormed the embassy. “We’re not going to let them get away with this,” Trump said.

  “Mr. President,” Graham said, “this is over the top. How about hitting someone a level below Soleimani, which would be much easier for everyone to absorb?” This was a role reversal for Graham. He was usually the hawk trying to convince a reluctant Trump to take military action. But a strike on Soleimani could mean the president was rushing the country into dangerous, uncharted territory.

  On the golf course, Trump tended to focus on the golf. He would drop out of the world, enjoying the endless tinkering with his swing. This week he was changing his grip on his clubs, strengthening it by turning his hands away from the target. He was pleased with the result. His drives landed 10 to 15 yards further, beyond 250 yards.

  Later Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s acting chief of staff, made an urgent request of Graham. Graham and Mulvaney had both served in South Carolina’s congressional delegation and knew each other well.

  You’ve got to find a way to stop this talk of hitting Soleimani, Mulvaney almost begged. Perhaps he’ll listen to you.

  Four days later, Trump ordered the drone strike which killed Soleimani.

  * * *

  Several hours after Trump and Graham’s golf game, I was sitting in the reception area of Mar-a-Lago waiting to interview Trump—our third interview that month. I had no clue about a potential strike on Soleimani. I wanted to review with him Mueller’s Russia investigation and Trump’s impeachment by the Democratic House of Representatives just 12 days earlier. The news, the daily story, was impeachment. Or so it seemed as I watched Mar-a-Lago club members stream in for dinner at what a Secret Service agent called “the regular evening soiree.”

  The club, originally built as a private home in 1927, was opulent and luxurious in an Old World way, like a gilded, candle-lit version of the Wizard of Oz’s castle. A 16-inch plaque stood prominently on the receptionist’s table. It read: “Donald J. Trump. The Mar-a-Lago Club. The only six-star private club in the world.”

  Suddenly, Trump in suit and tie, appeared with billionaire Nelson Peltz in tow. Peltz is the 77-year-old founding partner of Trian Fund Management, an investing firm whose portfolio includes holdings in Wendy’s and other prominent brands. Prompted by Trump, Peltz said, “Oh, he’s doing great things for the economy. It’s all him!”

  Peltz has a $123 million estate near Mar-a-Lago and saw his net worth increase from $1.4 billion in 2016 to $1.6 billion in 2019—a paper gain of $200 million. He kept pointing at Trump, repeating, “It’s all him! It’s all him! He did it!”

  At one point Trump pointed to the gold leaf on the 20-foot-high ceiling. “Look at that,” he said. “See that? See that?”

  Trump then escorted me back to a private conference room. We sat next to each other at a large table. Hogan Gidley, his deputy press secretary, sat more than six feet away on the other side of the table, recording the interview on his mobile phone.

  We addressed impeachment. Trump told me he considered himself “a student of history,” adding, “I like learning from the past. Much better than learning from yourself and mistakes.”

  Despite being impeached, Trump looked well rested and relaxed.

  This contrasted with other recent presidents who’d been in trouble, Trump said. “Nixon was in a corner with his thumb in his mouth. Bill Clinton took it very, very hard. I don’t.”

  Early in the interview I mentioned Nixon’s famous quote to David Frost in 1977 after he had resigned the presidency: Of his opponents, Nixon had said, “I gave them a sword. And they stuck it in. And they twisted it with relish. And, I guess, if I’d been in their position I’d have done the same thing.”

  In the rough transcript of the July 25 call with the Ukrainian president that the White House had released, Trump says, “There’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great. Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it.… It sounds horrible to me.”

  I asked Trump whether, looking back, he felt he “gave them a sword” by releasing the transcript of the call with President Zelensky.

  “It’s a perfect phone call,” Trump said, repeating his public line of defense. “No. I don’t. I didn’t give them a sword.”

  Trump continued, “They never in a million years thought I was going to release the call, number one. Number two, they never in a million years thought that we had it transcribed.” Trump insisted he should be given “great credit” for having the transcript of the call released.

  “It’s the transcript that’s the sword for them,” I said.

  “Let’s assume I didn’t have a transcription,” Trump said. “Then I would’ve lived with a false report by a whistleblower saying that it was a terrible call.”

  But the transcript proved that the whistleblower, despite not personally witnessing the call, had given an accurate summary in his report.

  “Can I ask you this, President Trump? As a matter of policy, would you want the president of the United States to be talking to foreign leaders about investigating anyone? That’s just bad p
olicy, isn’t it?”

  “Let me explain. Let me explain. No, let me explain,” Trump insisted. Biden was “corrupt.”

  “You understand what I’m—as a matter of policy, do you want the president of the United States—” I started to ask, but the president cut me off.

  “I think it’s fine. But there’s no—Well, let me tell you—”

  “You do?”

  “When we’re giving vast amounts of money to a country, I think you have to say if they’re corrupt. Why is it that there’s such corruption when we’re giving it? And you know, there’s another thing that I also talk about. And I talk about why isn’t Germany, France, the European nations who are much more affected by Ukraine than us” paying more, he asked. “Because Ukraine is like a massive wall. Think of it as a wall between Russia and Europe, okay?”

  “Understand,” I said, but didn’t want him to change the subject. “Will you allow me to persist with, I think, this is the important, core question in this?”

  “There wasn’t a thing—excuse me, Bob, there wasn’t a thing wrong with that call.”

  I did persist. “Do you want the policy of the United States to be that the president of the United States can talk to foreign leaders and say, investigate? I want you to talk to the attorney general about investigating somebody who’s a political opponent?”

  “No. No. No. I want them to investigate corruption. What he did was corrupt. I want them to investigate corruption. And I didn’t say, call my campaign manager. I said, the attorney general of the United States—”

  “I understand the defense. I’m asking the policy question,” I said.

  “And you have to say one thing: no, I want corruption investigated. And how can we investigate corruption in a foreign country? How can we do that? We can’t do that. We can’t do it because we’re not—you know, we don’t have access. We’re giving billions of dollars away to a foreign country. Yes, we should have the right to investigate corruption. I believe that strongly.”