Jan 17, 2023 - Politics & Policy

Trump in new Michael Schmidt afterword: "What the f---?"

Mike Allen

New York Times legal scoop machine Mike Schmidt has new nuggets from the Oval Office in a 12,000-word afterword for the paperback edition of his bestselling "Donald Trump v. The United States."

The big picture: After retired four-star Marine Gen. John Kelly became White House chief of staff in 2017, he found President Trump "had no grasp on the basics of American foreign policy," Schmidt writes.

"Why did we go to war in North Korea?" Trump would ask Kelly. "Why the f--- are we in NATO?"

"Trump seemed to have no interest in — and be confused by — Kelly's explanation that nations created a deterrence against Russia by committing to a collective defense," Schmidt continues in the new edition, out Tuesday.

"What the f---?" Trump said.

Kelly would tell aides:

"He has this thing that he knows more than the generals, the economists, the geologists. He is incapable of saying, 'I don't know anything; I need some advice.'"

Go deeper: Read Chapter 1 + listen to an audio sample (read by Mike Schmidt).

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Trump in new Michael Schmidt afterword: "What the f---?"

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