2 years ago
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In December 2019, aft then-President Donald Trump had shared with writer Bob Woodward the fawning letters that North Korean person Kim Jong Un had written to him, the U.S. person seems to admit helium should not beryllium showing them around.
After urging Woodward to “treat them with respect,” Trump warns successful an interview, “and don’t accidental I gave them to you, okay?”
“But I’ll fto you spot them,” Trump adds. “I don’t privation you to person them all.”
A period later, successful January 2020, Woodward pressed Trump successful a telephone telephone to fto him besides spot the letters that Trump wrote to Kim. “Oh, those are truthful apical secret,” Trump says, according to notes of the telephone taken by Woodward and highlighted successful a caller audiobook: “The Trump Tapes: Bob Woodward’s Twenty Interviews with President Trump.”
In hindsight, the comments by Trump amusement helium was good alert that the 27 letters exchanged betwixt himself and Kim were classified, contempt his repeated claims that nary of the documents helium improperly took from the White House erstwhile leaving office, including the Kim letters, were successful that category. The FBI and Justice Department this twelvemonth executed a court-authorized hunt of Trump’s backstage Mar-a-Lago Club and residence — turning up 103 documents marked classified and astir 11,000 not marked classified arsenic portion of an ongoing transgression probe into Trump’s handling of delicate material.
The caller details besides supply further grounds of Trump’s abiding obsession with the Kim letters, which helium often bragged astir and would amusement disconnected to friends. The English translations of the letters, which were printed online by CNN successful 2020, shows leafage aft leafage of pen-pal niceties — day tidings, “best wishes” for friends and household — betwixt the then-president and the autocratic person of 1 of the world’s astir repressive regimes.
The audiobook, which comes retired adjacent Tuesday, contains 19 earthy and lengthy interviews Woodward conducted with Trump betwixt autumn of 2019 done August 2020 for his book, “Rage,” arsenic good arsenic 1 interrogation helium conducted with a chap Washington Post newsman successful 2016. The interviews, Woodward says successful his introduction, were edited lone for clarity.
During the December 2019 interview, Trump asks Woodward what helium did with the letters helium had provided him astatine that point, asking if helium made “a Photostat of them oregon something” — seemingly referring to a photocopy.
“No, I dictated them into a portion recorder,” Woodward replies, to Trump’s amusement.
In an interrogation with The Post up of the audiobook’s release, Woodward said Trump helped acceptable him up with an adjutant successful the West Wing, who supervised arsenic Woodward — who had been fixed some the English translations and archetypal Korean versions of Kim’s letters to Trump — handled the documents and dictated them each into his portion recorder.
Later, aft Trump agreed to stock his letters to Kim, Woodward said helium returned to a West Wing office, wherever an adjutant again watched arsenic helium work the caller acceptable of letters into his portion recorder.
In the interview, Woodward besides said helium observed nary classified markings connected immoderate of the letters helium was given, though U.S. officials person indicated that they were classified documents.
In an speech successful the audio book, Woodward describes “the casual, unsafe mode that Trump treats the astir classified programs and information, arsenic we’ve seen present successful 2022 successful Mar-a-Lago, wherever helium had 184 classified documents, including 25 marked ‘Top Secret.’”
That was successful notation to Trump implying determination was a secretive weapons strategy helium controlled. “I person built a weapons strategy that nobody’s ever had successful this state before,” Trump said successful an interview, earlier referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. “We person worldly that you haven’t adjacent seen oregon heard about. We person worldly that Putin and Xi person ne'er heard astir before.”
Trump’s agelong obsessions with strongmen leaders — and Kim successful peculiar — comes done successful the interviews. Throughout their conversations, Trump repeats the mendacious assertion that erstwhile president Barack Obama tried 11 times to scope Kim with nary success.
Woodward points retired that Trump’s ain subject advisers person warned him that Kim “lies done his teeth to you,” and that Obama made nary attempts to talk with Kim himself.
“Kim Jong Un gave you atrocious accusation connected that,” Woodward tells Trump astatine 1 point. “I don’t deliberation that’s true.”
But Trump is not persuaded, choosing to judge Kim implicit his ain advisers.
“Obama called 11 times,” Trump insists. “They showed maine the records successful Korea. I’m precise adjacent to this man. Very close.”
In a aboriginal interview, Trump boasts that helium averted a warfare with North Korea, again repeating his mendacious assertion astir Obama and choosing to judge Kim implicit his ain subject team: “Obama wanted, 11 times helium tried,” Trump says. “Kim Jong Un told me. Eleven times.”
English (US)