Michael Wolff on His White House ‘Cloak of Invisibility’ and 7 More Things Not In the Book

“I hear that the president is very angry, or, let me be precise: I hear that he is truly bouncing off the walls,” Wolff says in new Q&A

michael wolff
Getty Images

Michael Wolff’s book detailing the turmoil within the White House during the first year of Donald Trump’s presidency was published on Friday, but the author’s explosive tidbits keep pouring out.

The title of Wolff’s book, “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House,” speaks for itself, but in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the author talks about conversations he had with the President, the lack of food offered to him during his time at the White House, and who he thinks is the next person to get booted.

The author also touched on his “cloak of invisibility” while writing his book.

“I literally think you go in there and say, ‘I’m writing a book,’ and they go, ‘Oh. A book.’ It’s like a cloak of invisibility,” he told THR. “And then also they would do this thing that would be like, ‘Oh, this is off the record.’ And I would say, ‘I would like to use it for the book.’ And they would say, ‘Well, when does that come out?’ And I would say, ‘Next year.’ ‘Oh, oh, yeah, OK, fine.’”

Invisibility cape aside, Wolff says that the POTUS  isn’t too happy with the book, a fact which was backed up by Trump’s attorneys trying to block its publication earlier this week.

“I hear that the president is very angry, or, let me be precise: I hear that he is truly bouncing off the walls,” Wolff said.

Read 7 details from Wolff’s interview with THR below.

1. Everyone Is Great

“Well, you don’t get the feeling that he has thought of anything other than himself at any given time. Certainly he was very open with me, accessible with me, and then he started to talk. Did he ever listen to me for one second? I never got that feeling. He just talks at you. ‘Blah blah blah blah blah blah. I’m great. I’m great. I’m great. I’m great.’ And then he sort of says, ‘And you’re great, too. And I’m really great.’ It’s like that. Any conversation with him is, not to overuse the word surreal, but it’s surreal.”

2. On Being a Neutral Observer

“I would have been perfectly happy to have written a contrarian book about how interesting and potentially hopeful and novel Trump-as-president was. I would have written a positive Trump book. And I thought it would be a fun thing to do — an audacious way to look at the world. But then I got in there and I thought, ‘Oh my God.’ Day after day it just seemed that this guy was more dysfunctional. It wasn’t even me seeing that. It was listening to the people around him.”

3. Trump Doesn’t Read, Says Wolff

“One of the threads that runs through this book is that he doesn’t read anything. People tell him what’s in an article — that’s what Hope Hicks does — and she probably told him it was great. It’s easier if he thinks it’s great.”

4. The Most Surprising Thing About Trump

“Almost every new thing you heard was astounding, from his John Dean obsession to the way he screamed at people to locking himself in his bedroom. Again and again and again and again it was something you thought, ‘This is not how it is supposed to be.’”

5. Roger Ailes’ Departure From Fox Was ‘A Weight Off His Shoulders’

“They were moving to Palm Beach the next day, and his departure from Fox News had been a weight off his shoulders. He couldn’t have been more amused, perplexed, semi-horrified by the Trump victory. I had spoken to him on and off since him getting booted out of Fox and I thought he was much better [at the dinner]. And Bannon was here, talking about the things that these guys talk about — ‘remaking the world.’”

6. On Who’s Out Next

“Dina Powell has already announced that she’s going. Gary Cohn is basically out the door. I wouldn’t imagine that John Kelly will make it to the spring. This is very, very, very hard duty.”

7. The White House Is ‘Not a Commodious Place’

“That was the thing — you never got food there.  I mean, occasionally you would get a little something. It’s not at all a commodious place. So they’re always having to move a coat off the seat or brush the crumbs off a couch so you can sit down. And then you might get a diet soda. Absent of creature comforts.”

Comments