Sep 5, 2018 - Politics & Policy

In Woodward's book, Trump erupts over Mueller

Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

On the day after Robert Mueller was named special counsel, Bob Woodward writes in "Fear," President Trump "erupted into uncontrollable anger, visibly agitated to a degree that no one in his inner circle had witnessed before."

What happened: "He watched a two-hour block of Fox News, and then most of the two-hour long blocks of MSNBC and CNN that he had TiVo'd. ... He raged at the coverage. ... 'Everybody's trying to get me ... It's unfair. Now everybody's saying I'm going to be impeached ... They're going to spend years digging through my whole life and finances.'"

This January, former Trump lawyer John Dowd held a White House practice session for the president, designed to show Trump what Mueller testimony would be like. (Spoiler: It didn't go well.)

  • Trump said of fired FBI director James Comey: "He's a liar ... The guy's a crook, he's a liar."
  • Trump to Dowd on why he thought he should testify: "I think the president of the United States cannot be seen taking the Fifth."

On the N.Y. Times' revelation about the Trump Tower meeting during the campaign, involving Don Jr. and others:

  • "It was a huge story, suggesting — but not proving — some kind of subterfuge and clandestine cooperation with the Russians. The president was in orbit and called [lawyer John] Dowd to complain about leaks and the press."
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