President Trump is desperately trying to figure out who in his administration might have talked to legendary journalist Bob Woodward for his upcoming book Fear, which depicts the Trump White House as a paranoia-seized workplace overseen by a petulant president.
CNN reports that Trump has now ordered his aides to figure out who might have been responsible for these leaks. Apparently, Trump himself has two suspects so far: former National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and former economic adviser Gary Cohn. Trump reportedly believes that both of them likely shared their notes with Woodward.
Woodward, who has built a reputation over decades for sterling, verified, and deeply sourced reporting, based the book's information on "hundreds of hours of interviews with firsthand participants and witnesses," as well as "meeting notes, personal diaries, and government documents," according to The Washington Post.
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In an excerpt from the book released on Tuesday, Woodward describes Cohn as on multiple occasions stealing documents off of Trump's desk so that he would not sign them. The book also goes into detail about Cohn's horrified reaction to Trump's Charlottesville remarks, which were widely derided for being sympathetic to neo-Nazis. McMaster does not play as much of a role in the portions of the book released this week, although Woodward does mention that Trump once denigrated the former adviser as a guy who wears cheap suits like a beer salesman.
In a statement on Tuesday, the White House said that the stories in the book were made up by disgruntled former employees. But according to CNN's report, Trump is also looking for which members of the current administration may have talked to Woodward, suspecting that some of the leaks may be coming from inside the White House. Read more at CNN.
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