Trump calls Wolff's White House expose 'Fire and Fury' a 'work of fiction'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}President Trump on Saturday called the recently released White House expose “Fire and Fury” a “work of fiction” and said that the purported White House interviews with him exist only in the author’s “imagination.”
The president’s comments followed the official release on Friday of Michael Wolff’s book, which questions Trump’s emotional and intellectual competence to run the Oval Office.
Excerpts from Wolff’s book, repeated often in the liberal media, say sources close to the president claim he is forgetful and doesn’t have the intellectual capacity to grasp the complex policy and politics of being president
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I went to the best colleges,” said Trump at Camp David. “I … was a great student, made billions of billions of dollars, was one of the top business people, went into television and for 10 years was a tremendous success as you've probably heard.”
He continued: “Ran for president one time and won. And then I hear this guy who doesn't know me at all, didn't interview me for three hours, his imagination. …. I consider (the book) a work of fiction.”
In criticizing the book, Trump also slammed his former political strategist Steve Bannon, whose quotes in the book are critical of the president.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“Just so you know, I didn't have an interview, never in the Oval Office,” Trump continued. “And I did a quick interview with (Wolff) a long time ago having to do with an article. But I don't know this man. Sloppy Steve brought him in. That's why sloppy Steve is looking for a job.”
Earlier in the day, Trump hit back at the suggestions and accusations about his intellect and emotional state by tweeting, “my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart.”
“Now that Russian collusion, after one year of intense study, has proven to be a total hoax on the American public, the Democrats and their lapdogs, the Fake News Mainstream Media, are taking out the old Ronald Reagan playbook and screaming mental stability and intelligence.....” he wrote in one tweet.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Trump continued minutes later: “Actually, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart. Crooked Hillary Clinton also played these cards very hard and, as everyone knows, went down in flames. I went from VERY successful businessman, to top T.V. Star.....”
Trump ended with: “....to President of the United States (on my first try). I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius....and a very stable genius at that!”
On Friday, Trump called Wolff “a total loser” when he retweeted a parody cover of the book that the Republican Party had tweeted earlier Friday.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“Michael Wolff is a total loser who made up stories in order to sell this really boring and untruthful book. He used Sloppy Steve Bannon, who cried when he got fired and begged for his job. Now Sloppy Steve has been dumped like a dog by almost everyone. Too bad!” he wrote.
Wolff wrote the book over 18 months, in which he claims to have spoken with more than 200 people. He said he had access to top officials inside the Trump administration, including the president, according to an interview Thursday with the Hollywood Reporter that details the backstory to the book's publishing.