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Excerpts from veteran Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward’s upcoming book on President Donald Trump’s administration, Rage, is due for release on September 15. New excerpts unveiled by The Washington Post on Wednesday provided a peek at the contents. Here are five of the most stunning.
1. Former Secretary of Defense James Mattis contemplated taking “collective action” against the president
Wood writes that James Mattis — who served as secretary of Defense from January 2017 to January 2019 — contemplated taking “action” against Trump after traveling to Washington National Cathedral to pray during tensions with North Korea, allegedly telling Office of National Intelligence Director Dan Coats that Trump was “dangerous” and “unfit,” adding, “There may come a time when we have to take collective action.”
Mattis allegedly told Coats in a separate conversation, “The president has no moral compass.” Coats replied, “True. To him, a lie is not a lie. It’s just what he thinks. He doesn’t know the difference between the truth and a
2. Intelligence Director Dan Coats believed Putin “had something” on Trump
Coats — who served in his position from March 2017 to August 2019 — allegedly believed Russian leader Vladimir Putin “had something” on Trump, because he could see “no other explanation” for his behavior.
The intel chief’s wife, Marsha Coats, allegedly wasn’t a fan of Trump, either, though the couple has had a long relationship with Vice President Mike Pence through Indiana politics. Coats served as a senator from the state from 1989-99 and again from 2011-17, while Pence served as a U.S. House member from the state from 2001-13 and as governor from 2013-17.
After Trump’s election, Woodward wrote, the couple attended a dinner at the White House, where Marsha Coats recollected an interaction with Pence. “I just looked at him, like, how are you stomaching this? I just looked at him like, this is horrible. I mean, we made eye contact. I think he understood. And he just whispered in my ear, ‘Stay the course.'”
3. Woodward obtained 25 new “love letters” between Trump and Kim Jong Un
Woodward obtained 27 “love letters” — 25 of which have never been reported — exchanged between Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. Kim refers to Trump in the letters as “Your Excellency,” and once wrote that meeting Trump again would be “reminiscent
Trump also told Woodward Kim “Tells me everything,” including a graphic account of how Kim killed his uncle, Jang Song-thaek, who was publicly executed for treason in 2013, two years after Kim assumed power.
4. Trump called the coronavirus “deadly” while saying the opposite in public because he wanted to “play it down”
“This is deadly stuff,” Trump told Woodward in a February 7 interview, speaking in reference to the coronavirus. “You just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed. And so that’s a very tricky one. That’s a very delicate one. It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flu.”
He downplayed the virus more than a month later, writing on Twitter on March 9: “So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!”
He told Woodward in a March 19 interview that he was “playing it down” to avoid creating panic. “I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic.
5. Jared Kushner believes that reading Alice in Wonderland is helpful to understanding Trump
The president’s adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, said four books help in providing insight into Trump’s mindset, including Alice in Wonderland. Quoting the novel’s Cheshire Cat, Kushner said: “If you don’t know where you’re going, any path will get you there.”