President Trump Suspects Two Ex-Aides Spoke Disparaging About Him to Bob Woodward

This week, the new book by famous Washington journalist Bob Woodward is set to be released. Titled “Fear: Trump in the White House,” the book, which is supposed to be heavily sourced from officials in the administration, is likely to be a best-seller.

Woodward is, of course, one part of the Watergate journalistic duo that ultimately felled President Nixon. For allegedly taking down a Republican president, Woodward is treated like Washington royalty.

There’s just one problem for Mr. Woodward: his reporting is not as impeccable as many in Washington would like to believe. In fact, there have been numerous instances in the past where his reporting has been called into question. A great summary can be found here: Bob Woodward’s Rich History of Creating Works of Fiction.

Regardless, his book is being taken seriously by the White House, which has steadfastly denied any tenacity to Woodward’s account. The President has taken to regularly blasting the book over his preferred written medium Twitter:

Woodward’s book purports to contain first-hand accounts of the President’s dealings, which is probably what scares Trump the most. After last week’s anonymously-penned op-ed written by a “senior official” in the administration, Trump probably isn’t feeling too great about potential traitors in his midst. (RELATED: New Clues Suggest Anonymous NYT Op-Ed Author Is Not That ‘Senior’.)

And now it looks like the President knows of at least two former aides who provided Woodward with damaging information about the White House.

Jonathan Swan of Axios reports:

  • Bob Woodward’s book hits the stands on Tuesday. Trump’s advisers have spent the past few days reading a PDF of the book, and the president now knows that some of his previously trusted White House aides play starring roles in Woodward’s narrative. Trump is privately furious at Gary Cohn and Rob Porter, and sources with direct knowledge of Trump’s thinking tell me it’s possible he publicly attacks Porter and Cohn this week.

Both Cohn and Porter left the administration on a sour note, but for varying reasons. Cohn left earlier this year following Trump’s enactment of steel and aluminum tariffs. (RELATED: Wall Street Reacts to Trump Tariff Announcement – Gary Cohn May Depart.) Porter departed after it was uncovered that he had a history of spousal abuse. (RELATED: White House Staff Secretary Rob Porter Resigns After Abuse Allegations.)

This isn’t surprising. Gary Cohn comes from a Wall Street background and never agreed with Trump on nationalist economics. Porter was a long-time Republican operative. Both, despite being a part of Washington’s deep-set problem of elitism, were power players in the administration and dealt with the President on a daily basis. That gave them great insight into Trump and his thinking on issues, which seems to have been relayed to Woodward as material for his book.

If it’s true that Cohn and Porter were Woodward sources, they deserve everything that’s coming to them when Trump publicly attacks.

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At least we can take solace in that both no longer work for the administration.

Jim E. is a true political insider, with experience working both in Washington and outside in real America. Jim... More about Jim E

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