by Bob Woodward
The president saw that Fox News: Andrew Restuccia and Eliana Johnson, “Advisers Bad-Mouth Nielsen as a ‘Never Trumper,’ ” Politico, May 11, 2018.
At her confirmation hearing: Ibid.
Kelly appeared on Fox News’s Bret Baier: Sophie Tatum, “Kelly on Immigration: Trump ‘Has Changed the Way He’s Looked at a Number of Things,’ ” CNN, January 17, 2018.
“I talked with the president”: Author review of contemporaneous notes by a participant.
“I’m the only thing protecting the president”: Ibid.
In a small group meeting in his office: Ibid.
CHAPTER 35
The information in this chapter comes primarily from multiple deep background interviews with firsthand sources.
Cohn knew that was crazy: A leaked copy of Trump’s 2005 tax return showed he had paid $38 million on more than $150 million income for that year—a rate of about 25 percent. View the document at https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/03/14/us/politics/document-Donald-Trump-2005-Tax.html.
As the tax negotiations intensified: Saleha Mohsin, “Mnuchin Crosses the U.S. Trying to Sell the GOP Tax Plan,” Bloomberg, November 16, 2017.
During the 2012 presidential campaign: Molly Moorhead, “Mitt Romney Says 47 Percent of Americans Pay No Income Tax,” PolitiFact, September 18, 2012.
While most of the 44 percent: Roberton C. Williams, “A Closer Look at Those Who Pay No Income or Payroll Taxes,” Tax Policy Center, July 11, 2016.
Their income was so low: In 2013 the EITC cost the federal Treasury $63 billion, according to PolitiFact. The Child Tax Credit cost $57 billion in 2013 according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
The bill, however, would reduce taxes: Howard Gleckman, “How the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Evolved,” Tax Policy Center, December 28, 2017.
Republican leaders and Trump celebrated: Donald J. Trump, “Remarks on Congressional Passage of Tax Reform Legislation,” December 20, 2017. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=129018.
CHAPTER 36
The information in this chapter comes primarily from multiple deep background interviews with firsthand sources.
In a long statement, rather than a tweet: Donald J. Trump, “Statement on Former White House Chief Strategist Stephen K. Bannon,” January 3, 2018. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=128962.
Bannon was appalled by: The National Security Strategy may be viewed online at https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/NSS-Final-12-18-2017-0905.pdf.
Most compromising for Trump: Donald J. Trump, “Remarks and a Question and Answer Session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland,” January 26, 2018. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=128980.
The New York Times headline had been: Peter S. Goodman and Keith Bradsher, “Trump Arrived in Davos as a Party Wrecker. He Leaves Praised as a Pragmatist,” The New York Times, January 26, 2018.
“It’s not a mere threat”: Peter Baker and Michael Tackett, “Trump Says His ‘Nuclear Button’ Is ‘Much Bigger’ Than North Korea’s,” The New York Times, January 2, 2018.
Lingering after receiving: Author review of contemporaneous notes by a participant.
That evening, Trump sent a taunting: Peter Baker and Michael Tackett, “Trump Says His ‘Nuclear Button’ Is ‘Much Bigger’ Than North Korea’s,” The New York Times, January 2, 2018.
The Washington Post’s Twitter account rushed: View the Post’s tweet at https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/948380549156098052.
Colin Kahl, Obama’s former deputy: View Kahl’s tweet at https://twitter.com/colinkahl/status/948395216213626881.
Others recalled Hillary Clinton’s: Hillary Clinton, “Address Accepting the Presidential Nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,” July 28, 2016. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=118051.
A writer for the conservative Washington Examiner: Tom Rogan, “Trump’s ‘Nuclear Button’ Tweet About North Korea Was Good,” Washington Examiner, January 3, 2018.
On December 3, before Trump and Kim’s war: “Transcript: Sen. Lindsey Graham on ‘Face the Nation,’ ” December 3, 2017.
CHAPTER 37
The information in this chapter comes primarily from multiple deep background interviews with firsthand sources.
McMaster set up a National Security Council meeting: Author review of contemporaneous notes by a participant.
When I first learned of the details: Interview with President Barack H. Obama, July 10, 2010.
CHAPTER 38
The information in this chapter comes primarily from multiple deep background interviews with firsthand sources.
Azerbaijan president Ilham Aliyev: “President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev Met President Donald Trump,” U.S. Embassy in Azerbaijan, September 21, 2017, https://az.usembassy.gov/president-azerbaijan-ilham-aliyev-met-president-donald-trump/.
On February 7, 2018, McMaster convened: Author review of contemporaneous notes by a participant.
Early in 2018, 60 Minutes broadcast: “16 Years Later, Afghan Capital Under Siege,” 60 Minutes, CBS, January 11, 2018.
In the last nine days: Pamela Constable, “A String of Deadly Attacks in Afghanistan Exposes Government Weakness, Limits of U.S. Training Effort,” The Washington Post, January 29, 2018.
On Afghanistan, Trump told Porter: In April 2018, in order to win an important vote for Mike Pompeo to become secretary of state, Trump had this to say to Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky. According to Paul, “The president told me over and over again in general we’re getting the hell out of there.”
CHAPTER 39
The information in this chapter comes primarily from multiple deep background interviews with firsthand sources.
In a tweet Graham said: View Graham’s tweet at https://twitter.com/LindseyGrahamSC/status/939988068823715842.
According to Comey, Trump had said: Comey’s June 8, 2017, testimony to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence is available at https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/3860393/Comey-Opening-Statement-June-8.pdf.
On December 29, 2017, Trump’s tweet: View Trump’s tweet at https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/946731576687235072.
The president called a meeting: Donald J. Trump, “Remarks in a Meeting with Members of Congress on Immigration Reform and an Exchange with Reporters,” January 9, 2018. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=128934.
In a statement, he was exuberant: View Graham’s tweet at https://twitter.com/LindseyGrahamSC/status/950800026401492992.
The New York Times: “Trump Appears”: Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Sheryl Gay Stolberg, “Trump Appears to Endorse Path to Citizenship for Millions of Immigrants,” The New York Times, January 9, 2018.
The Washington Post: “At the table”: Ashley Parker and Philip Rucker, “55 Minutes at the Table: Trump Tries to Negotiate and Prove Stability,” The Washington Post, January 9, 2018.
Durbin went public: John Byrne and Katherine Skiba, “Sen. Dick Durbin: President Trump Used ‘Hate-Filled, Vile and Racist’ Language in Immigration Meeting,” Chicago Tribune, January 12, 2018; Josh Dawsey, “Trump Derides Protections for Immigrants from ‘Shithole’ Countries,” The Washington Post, January 12, 2018.
On January 21, Graham attacked Miller: Elana Schor, “Graham Tees Off on Stephen Miller over Immigration,” Politico, January 21, 2018.
On Friday morning, February 23, 2018: Donald J. Trump, “Remarks at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Oxon Hill, Maryland,” February 23, 2018. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=129472.
/>
He then repeated one of his favorite: The story is an appropriation of lyrics by radical black singer, songwriter and activist Oscar Brown Jr. done repeatedly on the campaign trail to the harsh criticism of the Brown family.
He was in Africa: Peter Baker, Gardiner Harris and Mark Landler, “Trump Fires Rex Tillerson and Will Replace Him with CIA Chief Pompeo,” The New York Times, March 13, 2018.
The morning of March 13: Ibid.
Trump told reporters on the South Lawn: Donald J. Trump, “Remarks on the Nomination of Director of the Central Intelligence Agency Michael R. Pompeo to Be Secretary of State, the Termination of Rex W. Tillerson as Secretary of State, and the Nomination of Gina C. Haspel to be Director of the Central Intelligence Agency and an Exchange with Reporters Upon Departure for San Diego, California,” March 13, 2018. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=129510.
CHAPTER 40
The information in this chapter comes primarily from multiple deep background interviews with firsthand sources.
“I’d be embarrassed if this is still haunting”: Karen Freifeld, “White House Lawyer Cobb Predicts Quick End to Mueller Probe,” Reuters, August 18, 2017.
In December a story ran: “Mueller’s Trump-Russia Investigation Engulfs Deutsche,” Handelsblatt, December 5, 2017.
On March 31, Trump had tweeted: View Trump’s tweet at https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/847766558520856578.
“He made a contemporaneous memorandum”: Comey’s memos are available at https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/4442900/Ex-FBI-Director-James-Comey-s-memos.pdf.
CHAPTER 41
The information in this chapter comes primarily from multiple deep background interviews with firsthand sources.
In a meeting in January 2018: Author review of contemporaneous notes by a participant.
Each, one to the press and one in a blog: MJ Lee and Kevin Liptak, “Former White House Aide’s Ex-Wives Detail Abuse Allegations,” CNN, February 8, 2018; Colbie Holderness, “Rob Porter Is My Ex-Husband. Here’s What You Should Know About Abuse,” The Washington Post, February 12, 2018; Felicia Gans, “Jennifer Willoughby Called Rob Porter’s Alleged Abuse ‘Insidious’ Last Year,” Boston Globe, February 10, 2018.
The New York Times wrote: Maggie Haberman and Katie Rogers, “Abuse Claims End Star’s Rise in White House,” The New York Times, February 8, 2016, p. A1; Katie Rogers, “Aide’s Clean-Cut Image Belied His Hot Temper, Former Colleagues Say,” The New York Times, February 20, 2018, p. A14.
In a statement, Porter said: Josh Dawsey, Beth Reinhard and Elsie Viebeck, “Senior White House Official to Resign After Ex-Wives’ Allegations of Abuse,” The Washington Post, February 7, 2018.
“Peoples lives are being shattered”: View Trump’s tweet at https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/962348831789797381.
The Washington Post editorial board: “The White House Shrugged Off Domestic Violence. It’s Not Alone,” The Washington Post, February 8, 2018; Mark Landler, “Trump, Saying ‘Mere Allegation’ Ruins Lives, Appears to Doubt #MeToo Movement,” The New York Times, February 10, 2018.
More than a dozen executives showed up: Donald J. Trump, “Remarks at a Listening Session with Steel and Aluminum Industry Leaders and an Exchange with Reporters,” March 1, 2018. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=129484.
“Gary Cohn to Resign as Trump Adviser”: Justin Sink, Jennifer Jacobs, Dakin Campbell and Shannon Pettypiece, “Gary Cohn to Resign as Trump Adviser After Dispute over Tariffs,” Bloomberg, March 6, 2018.
“Gary Cohn Resigns Amid Differences”: Damian Paletta and Philip Rucker, “Gary Cohn, Trump’s Top Economic Adviser, to Resign Amid Differences on Trade Policy,” The Washington Post, March 7, 2018.
“Gary Cohn Resigns, Apparently over Tariffs”: Derek Thompson, “Gary Cohn Resigns, Apparently over Tariffs,” The Atlantic, March 6, 2018.
“Gary Cohn Resigns as White House”: Nick Timiraos, Peter Nicholas and Liz Hoffman, “Gary Cohn Resigns as White House Economic Adviser After Losing Tariffs Fight,” The Wall Street Journal, March 6, 2018.
“You just upped the ante to $150 billion”: Bob Davis, “Trump Weighs Tariffs on $100 Billion More of Chinese Goods,” The Wall Street Journal, April 5, 2018. Bossert and Trump met on April 6, 2018.
The Chinese had announced they would retaliate: Ibid.
Bossert was ready with his talking points: “Transcript of This Week,” ABC News, April 8, 2018.
CHAPTER 42
The information in this chapter comes primarily from multiple deep background interviews with firsthand sources.
Dowd and Cobb had been quoted: Michael S. Schmidt, Matt Apuzzo and Maggie Haberman, “Mueller Is Said to Seek Interviews with West Wing in Russia Case,” The New York Times, August 12, 2017.
“You did it to Flynn, you did it to Gates”: Jeremy Herb, Evan Perez, Marshall Cohen, Pamela Brown and Shimon Prokupecz, “Ex-Trump Campaign Adviser Pleads Guilty to Making False Statement,” CNN, October 31, 2017; Carrie Johnson, “Rick Gates Pleads Guilty and Begins Cooperating with Mueller’s Russia Investigation,” NPR, February 23, 2018.
Mueller’s team, Quarles and three others: Read Mueller’s questions, obtained by The New York Times in April 2018, at https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/30/us/politics/questions-mueller-wants-to-ask-trump-russia.html.
Dowd had represented Rajaratnam: Peter Lattman, “Galleon Chief Sentenced to 11-Year Term in Insider Case,” The New York Times, October 13, 2011.
Index
A note about the index: The pages referenced in this index refer to the page numbers in the print edition. Clicking on a page number will take you to the ebook location that corresponds to the beginning of that page in the print edition. For a comprehensive list of locations of any word or phrase, use your reading system’s search function.
al-Abadi, Haider, 314
ABC, 32–35, 40, 340, 342
abortion, 24–25
Access Hollywood tape, 29–37, 39, 43
Afghanistan/Afghanistan War, 115–28, 254–60
Bannon and, 122–23, 124, 125, 126, 127, 195–96, 254
CIA and, 119, 123, 126, 255, 257–58
civilian scenario planning on, 313–14
decision on policy regarding, 254–60
enlisted soldiers, Trump’s meeting with, 123–24
Graham on, 121–22, 123, 126–28, 259, 316
Harvey on, 108, 109
as House of Broken Toys, 314
India on, 125
Kabul, extent of violence in, 311, 312
Mattis and, 50, 51, 123, 124, 125–26, 196, 256, 258, 260, 313
McMaster on, 117–21, 122, 123–26, 254, 255–56, 257, 258, 259, 260, 310–11, 314
mineral wealth of, 125, 309–11
MOP used in, 184
Nicholson on, 311–13
NSC meetings and strategizing, 117–21, 124–26, 254–60
under Obama, 116, 117–18, 120, 127, 128
poppy fields, 125
as quagmire, 229, 246
R4s (reinforce, realign, reconcile, and regionalize), 121, 123, 258
South Korea compared, 313
strategy in, 115–28, 221–22, 254–60
Taliban, 116, 118–19, 121–23, 125–27, 255, 258, 260, 311–13
Trump asking McEntee about, 231
Trump briefed on, 124–26
Trump’s desire to pull out of, 229–30, 314–15
Trump’s opposition to war, 115–16, 120, 314
“victory” in, 260, 311–13
AFL-CIO, 248
African countries, immigrants from, 320
agricultural products, trade in, 158–61, 220, 341
Ailes, Roger, 12–13
Air Force One, 145, 229, 234, 241, 259, 271, 279, 281, 352, 353
Airborne Early Warning aircraft, 184
al Qaeda, 51, 72–75, 108, 112, 11
6, 256, 257
al-Abadi, Haider, 314
al-Assad, Bashar, 131, 146–47, 149–53
Aliyev, Ilham, 309
Alliance for American Manufacturing, 248
aluminum tariffs, 223, 273, 277, 337
American Manufacturing Council, 247–48
antibiotics produced by China, 275
apologies
Access Hollywood tape and, 30, 32, 33, 34, 36
of Flynn for leading “Lock Her Up” chant, 60
of Graham for Republican majority, 101
Trump’s difficulties with making, 34, 242, 244, 249
Apple, 190
The Apprentice (TV show), 2
arms deals, 220
Article II powers of president, 326, 328, 350, 356
al-Assad, Bashar, 131, 146–47, 149–53
assassination ban, 181
assassination/replacement of Kim Jong Un, proposals regarding, 181–84, 282
The Atlantic, 339
Augusta National Golf Club, Masters Tournament at, 339
Australia
refugee agreement, 207
steel tariffs exemption for, 207–9
automotive industry, 58, 142, 175, 223, 276–77, 335
autonomous vehicles, economic impact of, 58
Azerbaijan, 309
B-2 stealth bombers, 178
Baier, Bret, 285
Baker, James A., III, 54
Baltics, Russia on war in, 132
Banana Republic, 136
bankruptcies of Trump, 274–75
Bannon, Steve (Stephen K.)
Access Hollywood tape and, 31–33, 34, 35, 37
Afghanistan War and, 122–23, 124, 125, 126, 127, 257, 259, 260
appearance and demeanor of, 8
Bossie and, making inquiries about Trump candidacy, 1–7
campaign strategy of, 25–26
Charlottesville, media view of Trump after, 253, 254
as “chief strategist,” 48
Christie and, 35, 37
Comey, firing of, 162, 163, 165
