WASHINGTON – An admission through President Donald Trump that he “minimized” the risk posed by COVID-19. A new secret nuclear program. Copies of dozens of unreleased letters between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
These are just a few of the shocking main points included in “Rage,” a new eebook written by veteran Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward about Trump’s tenure. This is the moment when the Woodward eebook has written about the president, but for the president, he has interviewed Trump 18 times and included audio from his conversations.
These are some of the most common main points included in the eBook, according to CNN and The Post, which received the first copies. The e-book will be out next week.
Trump told Woodword in a recorded interview that while he knows how “deadly” and serious the coronavirus pandemic would be for Americans and the world, he was seeking to “minimize” it and continue to do so.
“I tried to downplay it,” Trump told Woodward on March 19, according to media reports. “I like to minimize it, because I don’t need to cause panic. “
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BOTH CNN and The Post included audio of the president’s comments to Woodward, where he gave “surprising” evidence that the virus also affected young people.
More than a month before the March 19 comments, Trump told Woodward on February 7 that COVID-19 would be “deadlier” than the flu, an unexpected juxtaposition of the president’s public comments at that time and in last. months after the pandemic, its lethality and spread.
“So last year, 37,000 Americans died from a not unusual flu. There is an average of between 27,000 and 70,000 consistent with the year. Nothing stands still, life and the economy continue,” Trump wrote on Twitter to his millions. of fans in March. . “Right now, there are 546 CoronaVirus cases shown, with 22 deaths. Think about it!”
During his conversations, Trump told Woodward about a new nuclear program that Woodward says he then interviewed unidentified officials. Officials were surprised to learn that Trump leaked the show to reporter, according to The Post and CNN.
“I built a nuclear formula, a weapons formula that no one has had before in this country,” Trump told Woodward, according to media reports. “We have things you haven’t even noticed or even heard of. We have things that Putin and Xi have never heard of before. There is no one, what we have is incredible. “
Woodward said other un named resources have shown the program’s lifestyles, but the main points about it are not included.
Woodward’s e-book only includes the first published excerpts of letters written through North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to Trump, but it also indicates that the two leaders exchanged at least 27 of them, according to CNN.
Trump did not allow Woodward to see copies of the letters he sent to the North Korean leader, with whom he had a complicated relationship that led to threats of war before the first U. S. president entered the country last year. The letter to Kim was “ultra-secret,” he told the writer that Kim called him “Excellence” and that the writer leader “tells me everything. “
The Post notes that an account of how Kim killed his uncle.
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In one of the letters to Trump, Kim wrote that he discovered “the excellence of Trump reminiscent of a scene from a fantasy movie” and that his montage is a “precious memory. ” In another, he wrote about his historic assembly when he and Trump shook hands in the Korean Demilitarized Zone and entered North Korean territory, writing about “that moment in history when I firmly held the hand of His Excellency in this beautiful and sacred position as a whole. global looked with wonderful interest. ” He added that he hoped “to revive the honor of this day. “
Former Defense Secretary James Mattis has prayed for America’s fate under Trump, Woodward writes. Mattis told former National Intelligence Director Dan Coats that Trump was “dangerous” and “inadequate,” without “ethical compass” and without being able to say it. “the difference between a fact and a lie. “
“There may come a time when we will have to take collective action,” Mattis told Coats, according to Woodward.
More: Former Trump Defense Secretary Mattis Calls President a Threat to American Democracy
Mattis reportedly told Coats that he resigned after Trump announced that he would take the flight of U. S. troops from Syria because “I necessarily told him to do anything he thought would happen from a stupid crime to a stupid one. “
During his tenure, Coats rejected Trump’s efforts to downplay the intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia tried to influence the 2016 election in its favor. According to Woodward, Coats is still wary of the nature of Trump’s appointments with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, described Trump’s leadership in the pandemic as “aimless. ” Woodward reported that Fauci Trump is “on a separate channel” and his “attention span is like a negative number. “
“Its purpose is to be re-elected,” Fauci said, according to an excerpt quoted through the Post.
According to Woodward, after a press conference where the president made false statements, Fauci said at an Oval Office assembly with Trump’s presence: “We can’t let the president be vulnerable, saying anything that’s going to come back and bite him. “
According to Woodward, an aide to Mattis once overheard Trump tell White House industrial adviser Peter Navarro, “My damn generals are an organization of . . . ” Woodward wrote that Mattis had suggested documenting the comment in an email, according to CNN.
“They are more concerned about their alliances than the industry deals,” Trump told Navarro.
The president also denounced senior military officials for alliances with NATO and South Korea, who said they stockpiled US cash for the long term.
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“I wouldn’t say they were stupid, because I would never say that about our military,” Trump said, according to a passage quoted via CNN. “But if they said that, they, whoever said it, it’s a terrible deal . . . they make a lot of money. It costs us $ 10 billion. We are idiots. “
Trump flatly denied an Atlantic report saying he denigrated dead and wounded Americans as “losers” and “fools. “But on Monday, he shared his distrust of senior army officials and told reporters, “Wars so that all those glorious corporations that make bombs, make airplanes and make everything else, stay happy. “