New book by Woodward says Trump wanted Syrian leader killed

[webfact]

New book by Woodward says Trump wanted Syrian leader killed

By Andy Sullivan

 

FILE PHOTO: Bob Woodward, a former Washington Post reporter, discusses about the Watergate Hotel burglary and stories for the Post at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda, California April 18, 2011. REUTERS/Alex Gallardo

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump wanted to have Syrian President Bashar al-Assad assassinated last year but his defence secretary ignored the request, according to a new book that depicts top Trump aides sometimes disregarding presidential orders to limit what they saw as damaging and dangerous behaviour.

 

Excerpts from the book, "Fear: Trump in the White House," written by famed Watergate reporter Bob Woodward, were published by the Washington Post on Tuesday. The book, which is scheduled for release on Sept. 11, is the latest to detail tensions within the White House under Trump's 20-month-old presidency.

 

"It's just another bad book," Trump told the Daily Caller.

 

The book portrays Trump as prone to profane outbursts and impulsive decision-making, painting a picture of chaos that Woodward says amounts to an "administrative coup d’etat" and a "nervous breakdown" of the executive branch.

 

According to the book, Trump told Defense Secretary Jim Mattis that he wanted to have Assad assassinated after the Syrian president launched a chemical attack on civilians in April 2017.

 

Mattis told Trump he would "get right on it," but instead developed a plan for a limited air strike that did not threaten Assad personally.

 

Mattis told associates after a separate incident that Trump acted like "a fifth- or sixth-grader," according to the book.

 

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the book is "nothing more than fabricated stories, many by former disgruntled employees, told to make the president look bad."

 

Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, also cast doubt on the account about Assad.

 

"I have the pleasure of being privy to those conversations ... and I have not once heard the president talk about assassinating Assad," Haley told reporters on Tuesday.

 

The Pentagon declined to comment.

 

Woodward gained national fame for his reporting on the Watergate scandal in the 1970s, and has since written a series of books that provide behind-the-scenes glimpses of presidential administrations and other Washington institutions. For this book, Woodward spoke to top aides and other insiders with the understanding that he would not reveal how he got his information, the Post said.

 

Among his other revelations: Former top economic adviser Gary Cohn stole a letter off Trump's desk that the president planned to sign that would withdraw the United States from a trade agreement with South Korea.

 

Cohn, who tried to rein in Trump's protectionist impulses, also planned to remove a similar memo that would have withdrawn the United States from the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada,Woodward wrote.

 

"I'll just take the paper off his desk," Cohn told another White House aide, according to the book.

 

Trump said that did not take place. "It's just made up," he told the Daily Caller.

 

The United States remains part of both trade agreements as it negotiates new terms.

 

"WORST JOB" EVER

Other aides insulted Trump behind his back. Chief of Staff John Kelly called Trump an "idiot," and said, "We're in Crazytown. ... This is the worst job I've ever had."

 

Trump treated top aides with scorn, the book says, telling Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross that he was past his prime and calling Attorney General Jeff Sessions "mentally retarded."

 

Kelly, in remarks released by the White House, said he never called the president an idiot and called the story "total BS."

 

Trump has grown paranoid and anxious over an ongoing federal inquiry into whether his campaign colluded with Russia in Moscow's alleged interference in the 2016 presidential election, prompting aides to compare Trump to former President Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal, Woodward reported.

 

Trump's former lawyer John Dowd conducted a mock interview with Trump to convince him that he would commit perjury if he agreed to talk to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is leading the Russia investigation, the book says.

 

Trump did not speak with him until the manuscript was complete, the paper said. "So I have another bad book coming out. Big deal," Trump told Woodward, according to a transcript of a telephone call released by the Post.

 

(Additional reporting by Michelle Nichols at the United Nations; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh, Frances Kerry and Leslie Adler)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-09-05

[Jingthing]

Confirmation!

From one of the most credible journalists in American history.
 

Quote

The real reason Bob Woodward's book is so damaging for Trump

...

The Point: What Woodward's book does is confirm all of the negative stories we've already heard about Trump and his administration. This isn't the work of a reporter with credibility problems or a press-loving former aide. This is the story. This is the President and how he really acts and thinks.

 

 

[ezzra]

Notwithstanding Trump wishes, the Syrian president has no business still being a president who bombed, gassed and systematically murdered over half a million of his own people, displaced millions and laid his country  to ruines and all with the help of Russia and Iran, history will remember this murderous tyrant in infamy for generations to come...

[mtls2005]

This book was expected to be a fairly stark view inside the tRUmp WH, who were planning for the worst. It seems to be a lot worse than even they could have imagined. About all they could do to get ahead of it was to vaguely reference "fake books".

 

tRUmp wanting to assassinate a foreign leader, while illegal, is hardly surprising, and may not do a whole lot for his relationships with other foreign leaders.

 

Some interesting snippets, more to follow...again, not shocking perhaps to anyone other than a tRUmp supporter.

 

Welcome to "Crazytown".

 

Chief of staff John Kelly describes Trump as an "idiot" and "unhinged," Woodward reports. Defense Secretary James Mattis describes Trump as having the understanding of "a fifth or sixth grader." And Trump's former personal lawyer John Dowd describes the President as "a f***ing liar," telling Trump he would end up in an "orange jump suit" if he testified to special counsel Robert Mueller.

"He's an idiot. It's pointless to try to convince him of anything. He's gone off the rails. We're in crazytown," Kelly is quoted as saying at a staff meeting in his office. "I don't even know why any of us are here. This is the worst job I've ever had."

[Nyezhov]

1 hour ago, ezzra said:

Notwithstanding Trump wishes, the Syrian president has no business still being a president who bombed, gassed and systematically murdered over half a million of his own people, displaced millions and laid his country  to ruines and all with the help of Russia and Iran, history will remember this murderous tyrant in infamy for generations to come...

Really. The world would spin very nicely without Assad wouldnt it......

[simple1]

1 minute ago, Nyezhov said:

Really. The world would spin very nicely without Assad wouldnt it......

Not a guaranteed outcome. One issue we do know, Trump didn't have a plan B, which is obvious from the released excerpts from the OP book.  A US President ordering the killing of Assad without a backup plan could well have had terrible consequences for the region.

[Nyezhov]

8 minutes ago, simple1 said:

Not a guaranteed outcome. One issue we do know, Trump didn't have a plan B, which is obvious from the released excerpts from the OP book.  A US President ordering the killing of Assad without a backup plan could well have had terrible consequences for the region.

I said it more as a statement of general philosophy vis a vis approval or disaproval of the act itself...

[Thailand]

Light blue touch paper, stand back and watch the show to come.

[mtls2005]

This is gonna be a long thread...

 

A bizarre element of the launch of this book is the recordings and transcript of the eleven-minute phone call between Woodward and tRUmp on August 14, 2018...

 

Kellyanne's in a bit of hot water?

 

Trump: That is true. That is true. Well, that — no, but that is true. Mentioned it quickly, not like, you know, and I would certainly have thought that maybe you would’ve called the office. But that’s okay. I’ll speak to Kellyanne. I am a little surprised that she wouldn’t have told me. In fact, she just walked in. [to Kellyanne] I’m talking to Bob Woodward. He said that he told you.

 

Conway: Yes.

 

Trump: About speaking to me. But you never told me. Why didn’t you tell me?

 

Conway: [inaudible].

 

 

Inaudible. If only we were so lucky.

 

 

 

 

Transcript: Phone call between President Trump and journalist Bob Woodward

 

Bob Woodward, an associate editor at The Washington Post, sought an interview with President Trump as he was writing “Fear,” a book about Trump’s presidency. Trump called Woodward in early August, after the manuscript had been completed, to say he wanted to participate.

 

Over the course of 11-plus minutes, Trump repeatedly claimed his White House staff hadn’t informed him of Woodward’s interview request — despite also admitting Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) had told him Woodward wanted to talk. He also started the phone call by saying Woodward had “always been fair” to him, but by the end he said the book would be “inaccurate.”

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/09/04/transcript-phone-call-between-president-trump-journalist-bob-woodward/?utm_term=.f4e39e1089df

[stevenl]

35 minutes ago, Nyezhov said:

Really. The world would spin very nicely without Assad wouldnt it......

Yes, look what happened to Iraq and Libyai. Both very stable democracies after the ouster and killing of their strongman.

Edited September 5, 2018 by stevenl

[Jingthing]

Yes worth a listen.
Keep in mind "trump" lies constantly.
So assume he knew full well about the request for a meeting and decided not in his interest.
Instead he can deflect blame as per his standard mo.

Sent from my Lenovo A7020a48 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[blazes]

Since Trump does not read anything, he is never going to know what's in the book!  Oh, but I forgot...he watches TV all day and night.

[Nyezhov]

17 minutes ago, stevenl said:

Yes, look what happened to Iraq and Libyai. Both very stable democracies after the ouster and killing of their strongman.

O yes. Meet the new Boss, same as the old Boss 5555.

 

The world is infested with a**holes. 

 

Now Im going to have a snack and watch the fun!

[blazes]

 

Nothing new about Trump here.

The only really weird thing arising from this book is why all these WH minions did not resign when they heard Trump calling them these despicable names.

In fact, what the book reveals best of all is the nature of the Swamp. Who are these people?  Is it a paycheque that keeps them in the WH or some misbegotten sense of "grandeur" to be working in America's most important house?

 

[mtls2005]

Historically, our batting average on successful assassinations/overthrows of foreign leaders/governments is well below our "weight", so ~ 242-ish; probably below 100 (10%)? More often than not, in our zeal to influence world events, we mess up massively.

 

Can imagine tRUmp requesting those "special" cigars from the CIA to give to Kim.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 5, 2018 by mtls2005

[Lupatria]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

New book by Woodward says Trump wanted Syrian leader killed

I promise, this will be my only "it happens elsewhere too" post:

 

          

 

[Berkshire]

Wow man, just read the Washington Post reporting of this book.  I mean...I hate Trump as much as the next guy.  But reading some of these excerpts...I almost feel sorry for the guy.  Just about every one of his cabinet--his own freakin people--thinks he's a flaming idiot.  But then, we already know that.  Some excerpts....

 

[Again and again, Woodward recounts at length how Trump’s national security team was shaken by his lack of curiosity and knowledge about world affairs and his contempt for the mainstream perspectives of military and intelligence leaders.]

[“Mattis was particularly exasperated and alarmed, telling close associates that the president acted like — and had the understanding of — ‘a fifth- or sixth-grader.’ ”]

[In one small group meeting, Kelly said of Trump: “He’s an idiot. It’s pointless to try to convince him of anything. He’s gone off the rails. We’re in Crazytown. I don’t even know why any of us are here. This is the worst job I’ve ever had.”]

[Priebus dubbed the presidential bedroom, where Trump obsessively watched cable news and tweeted, “the devil’s workshop” and said early mornings and Sunday evenings, when the president often set off tweetstorms, were “the witching hour.”]

[Cohn came to regard the president as “a professional liar” and threatened to resign in August 2017 over Trump’s handling of a deadly white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville.]

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/bob-woodward’s-new-book-reveals-a-‘nervous-breakdown’-of-trump’s-presidency/ar-BBMRXsf?ocid=wispr

[mtls2005]

Entire Woodward/tRUmp call...

 

"Well I assume that means it going to be a negative book".

 

Ya think? 

 

 

Edited September 5, 2018 by mtls2005

[Tug]

Assad death would be a blessing but that tidbit is small potatoes compared to the incompetence he is displaying we are in a truley dangerous time as his reckless incompetence catches up with him

[Morch]

1 hour ago, blazes said:

 

Nothing new about Trump here.

The only really weird thing arising from this book is why all these WH minions did not resign when they heard Trump calling them these despicable names.

In fact, what the book reveals best of all is the nature of the Swamp. Who are these people?  Is it a paycheque that keeps them in the WH or some misbegotten sense of "grandeur" to be working in America's most important house?

 

 

I think some of them (granted, not all) see remaining in office as a buffer mitigating Trump's destructive ways.

[Berkshire]

1 hour ago, blazes said:

 

Nothing new about Trump here.

The only really weird thing arising from this book is why all these WH minions did not resign when they heard Trump calling them these despicable names.

In fact, what the book reveals best of all is the nature of the Swamp. Who are these people?  Is it a paycheque that keeps them in the WH or some misbegotten sense of "grandeur" to be working in America's most important house?

 

"Who are these people?"  Eh, well Trump hired them.  And he only hires the best people. 

[blazes]

6 minutes ago, Morch said:

 

I think some of them (granted, not all) see remaining in office as a buffer mitigating Trump's destructive ways.

 

 Too noble a thought, surely?

[connda]

4 hours ago, ezzra said:

Notwithstanding Trump wishes, the Syrian president has no business still being a president who bombed, gassed and systematically murdered over half a million of his own people, displaced millions and laid his country  to ruines and all with the help of Russia and Iran, history will remember this murderous tyrant in infamy for generations to come...

......or so goes the State Department talking-points as propagated by the US and Western-based main-stream media news outlets and regurgitated by those who are unable to entertain other narratives from independent news sources on the ground.  From Iraqi soldiers bayoneting Kuwaiti babies, to Saddam's WMDs, to Gaddaffi handing out Viagra and issuing rape orders to Libyan soldier, to Assad 'killing millions of his own people' with chlorine gas and barrel-bombs, the R2P narrative keeps marching on along followed by chaos and the implicit and explicit slaughter and starvation of civilians in the name of Western humanitarianism'.....but at the end of the day for the West, it's all about the oil, corporate oil interests and unending funding of the military-industrial-security interests that profits from death, destruction, and chaos in the Middle East.  But for the 'indispensable nation' ideologues out there - believe what you wish.  Your governments want you to support carnage in the Middle East in order to bring Western style 'democracy' to those ignorant and backward natives who are unable to construct 'free' governments of their own that are compliant to Western interests.  ?
Wanna see reality?  <laughs>  Just follow the money.....$$$$$

Edited September 5, 2018 by connda

[Opl]

" “Fear” is not the only book that Trump has been worried about recently, according to one White House official. He has also asked aides about another upcoming book about the White House by CBS news correspondent Major Garrett and wondered out loud whether he should participate in some of the books about his administration. So far, aides have convinced him not to, telling him that presidential participation in books about their administrations are for leaders who do not regularly engage with the public and with the press, the way he does on Twitter. Aides have told him he has no need to cooperate with the authors of books because he is engaging all the time."

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/04/woodward-book-john-kelly-trump-806695

 

[mtls2005]

Time for another Omarosa tape I think?

 

Either a profanity-laced tirade against someone (Republican, alive or dead or Don Jr. or Jared), or him doing his impression of Marlee Matlin?

 

 

[mtls2005]

The Latest: Trump denies saying Sessions 'mentally retarded'

 

President Donald Trump is denying that he called Attorney General Jeff Sessions "mentally retarded" and "a dumb southerner."

 

Trump is reacting on Twitter to one of the more incendiary claims in Bob Woodward's forthcoming book "Fear: Trump in the White House."

 

The president says he "never used those terms on anyone, including Jeff." He adds that "being a southerner is a GREAT thing."

 

https://www.chron.com/news/politics/article/The-Latest-Kelly-says-he-didn-t-call-Trump-an-13203924.php

 

 

Other quotes from the book:

 

Trump to Rudy Giuliani: "Rudy, you're a baby," Trump told the man who is now his personal attorney. "I've never seen a worse defense of me in my life. They took your diaper off right there. You're like a little baby that needed to be changed. When are you going to be a man?"

Trump on Attorney General Jeff Sessions: "This guy is mentally retarded. He’s this dumb Southerner. … He couldn’t even be a one-person country lawyer down in Alabama."

Trump to Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross: "I don’t trust you. I don’t want you doing any more negotiations. … You’re past your prime."

 

 

 

Edited September 5, 2018 by mtls2005

[AsiaHand]

He isn't the only leader of a country to want that idiot killed but he is the only one to make a stupid statement of the fact out loud. "You can't fix stupid"

[Jingthing]

Who are you gonna believe? Woodward a journalist of impeccable ethics or "trump" the lying con man accidental president?

 

Only a total fool would choose "trump" in that contest. Yes his hard core deplorable he could randomly shoot people true believer base. That base isn't that big. "trump" is crumbling before our eyes. He's more dangerous than ever now that he's cornered.

 

Sent from my Lenovo A7020a48 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

 

 

 

 

[Morch]

3 hours ago, blazes said:

 

 Too noble a thought, surely?

 

Hence the qualification "some". I would agree that many on Trump's administration are the usual "swamp dwellers" and worse. But not all. Even from the bits published, seems like some take upon themselves to play the adult in the room.

[mtls2005]

Trump lost his temper during mock Mueller interview: Woodward book

 

The Washington Post, which obtained a copy of the book, reported Tuesday that former Trump attorney John Dowd arranged a mock interview for Jan. 27. As Dowd rattled off a series of questions about the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, Trump reportedly stumbled over his answers and contradicted himself.

“This thing’s a goddamn hoax,” Trump said, sparking a 30-minute rant.

 

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/404920-trump-lost-his-temper-during-mock-mueller-interview-woodward-book

 

It is further reported that Dowd and Sekulow went to Mueller, relayed the results of this practice session, and said that tRUmp cannot be considered an honest witness.