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| Author Michael Wolff is seen on the set of NBC’s ‘Today’ show prior to an interview about his book ‘Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House’ in New York |
The author of a deeply critical book about Donald Trumpโs first year in office said on Friday he had spoken with the president while working on it, contradicting Trumpโs assertion that he had never talked to the writer for the book and had authorised โZero accessโ to the White House.
Michael Wolffโs book โFire and Fury: Inside the Trump White Houseโ went on sale on Friday, its release pulled forward after published excerpts this week set off a political firestorm, threats by Trump lawyers of legal action and an effort to halt publication.
The book, dismissed by Trump as full of lies, depicts a chaotic White House, a president who was ill-prepared to win the office in 2016, and Trump aides who scorned his abilities.
Wolff told NBC on Friday that he stood by his reporting and had talked to the president for the book.
โI absolutely spoke to the president. Whether he realized it was an interview or not, I donโt know, but it was certainly not off the record,โ he said on NBCโs โTodayโ program, adding that he had spoken to people who spoke to Trump on a daily, โsometimes minute by minuteโ basis.
Asked to clarify what he meant when he wrote that Trumpโs entire circle questioned his fitness for office, Wolff said, โLet me put a marker in the sand here: 100 percent of the people around him โฆ They all say he is like a child. And what they mean by that is he has a need for immediate gratification. Itโs all about him.โ
On Thursday evening, Trump tweeted that, โI authorized Zero access to White House (actually turned him down many times) for author of phony book! I never spoke to him for book.โ
โFull of lies, misrepresentations and sources that donโt exist. Look at this guyโs past and watch what happens to him and Sloppy Steve!โ Trump added.
The early excerpts have also caused a deep public rift with Trumpโs former chief strategist and top campaign aide, Steve Bannon, over his comments in the book about Trump and his family, shaking the presidentโs populist movement.
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| Copies of the book โFire and Fury: Inside the Trump White Houseโ by author Michael Wolff are seen at a local book store in Washington, DC |
Lawyers for Trump had called on the bookโs publisher, Henry Holt & Co, to halt the bookโs release, originally scheduled for Tuesday. Instead, it began sales early. As of Friday, โFire and Furyโ was the top-selling book on Amazon.com.
Customers in Washington queued up in sub-freezing temperatures to purchase a copy at KramerBooks, which began selling copies at midnight. The bookstore had sold out of copies as of Friday morning at 9 am (1400 GMT).
The White House has said the book is riddled with errors. Spokeswoman Sarah Sanders, who has called the book trash, said again on Friday that Wolff had talked only briefly to the president and did not have wide access.
โThis is a guy who made up a lot of stories to try to sell books,โ she said in an interview on Fox News.
Charles Harder, Trumpโs personal lawyer, in a legal notice provided to Reuters, warned on Thursday of possible claims including libel against Wolff and Henry Holt & Co and threatened to try to block publication of the book. Harder also told Reuters that โlegal action is imminentโ against Bannon.
Henry Holt said it had received a cease-and-desist letter from Trumpโs attorney but would go ahead with publishing the book.
Bannonโs reaction to the controversy has been muted. In interviews after the news broke with the conservative Breitbart News website,
