The Washington Post has generously kept me on as an associate editor. I associate very little these days because I rarely go to the Washington Post in downtown Washington but work out of my office at home. And my editing might, at most, be a phone conversation with a reporter who has a query, often about the past. Associate editor is a wonderful title, however, and allows me to keep connected to my journalist roots. The Post has been my institutional home and family for 47 years. It is run exceptionally well these days, doing some of the best, most aggressive and necessary journalism of the Trump era. My thanks to Marty Baron, the executive editor, Cameron Barr, the managing editor, Jeff Leen, the investigations editor, Robert Costa, Tom Hamburger, Rosalind Helderman, David Fahrenthold, Karen Tumulty, Philip Rucker, Robert O’Harrow, Amy Goldstein, Scott Wilson, Steven Ginsberg, Peter Wallsten, Dan Balz, Lucy Shackelford and countless others at the Post.
I thank many old colleagues and friends there at the Post or once there: Don Graham, Sally Quinn, David Maraniss, Rick Atkinson, Christian Williams, Paul Richard, Patrick Tyler, Tom Wilkinson, Leonard Downie Jr., Marcus Brauchli, Steve Coll, Steve Luxenberg, Scott Armstrong, Al Kamen, Ben Weiser, Martha Sherrill, Bill Powers, Carlos Lozada, Fred Hiatt, John Feinstein and publisher Fred Ryan.
Many thanks to Michael Kranish and Marc Fisher, who assembled a group of reporters from the Post, including myself, to report on Trump before the election. The result was Michael and Marc’s book, Trump Revealed, one of the best sources on the president-to-be. It includes more than 20 hours of interviews with Trump.
All those still employed by or connected to the Post have reason to be thankful that Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder and CEO, is owner of the Post. He has spent time and a great deal of money to give the newspaper the extra reporting and editing resources to make in-depth examinations. The independent newspaper culture fostered, and rigorously supported, by Katharine Graham and Don Graham is alive and well.
A book on the sitting president owes much to the journalism, writing and books that have gone before. There is so much on Trump already in the vortex of the 24/7 daily news. It is no longer a cycle but a steady stream. This book is based on my own reporting but it is inevitable that ideas or information were supplied directly or indirectly from other publications and news accounts. I owe an immense debt to all who have written on Trump and this political era, especially from The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Axios and Politico.
Robert B. Barnett, my lawyer, counselor and friend, once again did his marvelous work. Wedded to the concept of total devotion to his clients, he delivered the full support package. Bob knows Washington politics and New York publishing like no one else, and uses that knowledge with ingenuity and devotion to his clients.
Evelyn and I are fortunate for the presence, care and kindness of Rosa Criollo and Jackie Crowe.
Deep appreciation and love to Tali Woodward, my oldest daughter, who is the director of the Master of Arts program at Columbia Journalism School. She regularly provided wise counsel. And my love to her husband, Gabe Roth, and their two children, Zadie and Theo—my grandchildren.
Diana Woodward, our youngest daughter, is entering her senior year at Yale where she majors in humanities and psychology. When she returns during college breaks she brings that spark and joy we miss so much around the house.
This book is dedicated to Elsa Walsh, my wife, known widely as the Kindness Lady because she lives by Henry James’s words on the importance and centrality of kindness. For Elsa this is not just unselfish appreciation for each person but reverence for each. This is the 15th book in the 37 years we have been together. A former reporter for The Washington Post and staff writer for The New Yorker, Elsa loves people, ideas and books. She applied her natural, well-practiced and demanding editing skills to this book. I am forever grateful. I cannot thank her enough for her love and support. Over the years, I have developed a permanent respect for her judgment. I often ask, How does she know? Where does this intellect come from? I have never found the complete answer to those questions. But I get to see her magic in daily life. I cherish her—partner and the love of my life.
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About the Author
? LISA BERG
BOB WOODWARD is an associate editor at The Washington Post, where he has worked for 47 years. He has shared in two Pulitzer Prizes, first for the Post’s coverage of the Watergate scandal with Carl Bernstein, and second in 2003 as the lead reporter for coverage of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He has authored or coauthored 18 books, all of which have been national nonfiction bestsellers. Twelve of those have been #1 national bestsellers.
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Also by
BOB WOODWARD
The Last of the President’s Men The Price of Politics Obama’s Wars The War Within: A Secret White House History, 2006–2008
State of Denial The Secret Man (with a Reporter’s Assessment by Carl Bernstein) Plan of Attack Bush at War Maestro: Greenspan’s Fed and the American Boom Shadow: Five Presidents and the Legacy of Watergate The Choice The Agenda: Inside the Clinton White House The Commanders Veil: The Secret Wars of the CIA, 1981–1987
Wired: The Short Life and Fast Times of John Belushi The Brethren (with Scott Armstrong) The Final Days (with Carl Bernstein) All the President’s Men (with Carl Bernstein)
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Source Notes
PROLOGUE
The information in this chapter comes primarily from multiple deep background interviews with firsthand sources.
But now there was the letter: Author obtained document.
“More than anything else, it’s”: On-the-record interview with Donald J. Trump, March 31, 2016.
CHAPTER 1
The information in this chapter comes primarily from multiple deep background interviews with firsthand sources. See also Let Trump Be Trump by Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie (New York: Hachette, 2017).
Trump had once given Bannon: “Bannon’s ‘Victory Sessions’ Goes National,” Breitbart, February 23, 2012.
CHAPTER 2
The information in this chapter comes primarily from multiple deep background interviews with firsthand sources.
“The Failing Inside Mission”: Alexander Burns and Maggie Haberman, “The Failing Inside Mission to Tame Trump’s Tongue,” The New York Times, August 14, 2016, p. A1. (Available online at https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/14/us/politics/donaldtrump-campaign-gop.html.)
The Times article about the failure: Ibid.
Trump had appeared on a series: David A. Fahrenthold and Frances Stead Sellers, “How Bannon Flattered and Coaxed Trump on Policies Key to the Alt-Right,” The Washington Post, November 15, 2016.
In an August 8 speech: Donald J. Trump, “Remarks to the Detroit Economic Club,” August 8, 2016. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=119744.
It had been great when Trump released: Louis Nelson, “Trump Outlines 10-Point Plan to Reform Veterans Affairs Department,” Politico, July 11, 2016.
CHAPTER 3
The information in this chapter comes primarily from multiple deep background interviews with firsthand sources.
But the New York Daily News had: Jennifer Fermino, “Senior Donald Trump Adviser Appears to Be Fan of NYC Bondage, Swinger’s Club,” New York Daily News, April 12, 2016.
“I need you to look at something”: Andrew E. Kramer, Mike McIntire and Barry Meier, “Secret Ledger in Ukraine Lists Cash for Donald Trump’s Campaign Chief,” The New York Times, August 14, 2016.
The Times article on Manafort: Ibid.
For all the abuse: Bob Cusack, “Trump Slams RNC Chairman, Calls 2016 Process ‘A Disgrace,’?” The Hill, April 12, 2016.
The New York Times reported: Jonathan Martin, Jim Rutenberg and Maggie Haberman, “Donald Trump Appoints Media Firebrand to Run Campaign,” The New York Times, August 17, 2016.
On August 22, Time magazine: View the cover online at http://time.com/magazine/us/4447970/august-22nd-2016-vol-188-no-7-u-s/.
CHAPTER 4