Former President Donald Trump advised surprised journalist Bob Woodward in one in every of their a number of taped interviews that whereas he was president, “every little thing” was “mine.”
Of the ten presidents Woodward has coated as a journalist, he advised MSNBC host Ari Melber on Thursday, he had by no means earlier than “heard anyone within the presidency …. assume that by some means there’s possession on this.”
His presidency ended with Trump believing it was nonetheless his to regulate, the Washington Publish journalist famous within the interview about his new audiobook, “The Trump Tapes: Bob Woodward’s Twenty Interviews With President Donald Trump.” The interviews had been performed over 9 months in 2020 whereas Trump was within the White Home.
Trump, who hadn’t held a political workplace till he stepped into his Oval Workplace position, made the pronouncement that every little thing was his when Woodward requested him of his position: “Did someone make it easier to?”
“Yeah, I get folks, they provide you with concepts,” Trump advised Woodward. “However the concepts are mine, Bob. Wish to know one thing? Every little thing’s mine.”
Woodward advised Melber: “The tragedy in all of this, whenever you undergo all these audiotapes … he didn’t perceive the presidency and the obligations to the folks. … This isn’t about your self. When he says, ‘Every little thing is mine,’ it sort of echoes this concept of the presidency is his. And we now even see him claiming that he received” the 2020 election, “when there’s no proof to help that.”
Woodward pointed particularly to a president so enthralled by his personal concepts that he unilaterally determined to “cowl up” the warnings he obtained in January 2020 concerning the coming COVID-19 pandemic. He advised Woodward he knew the virus was “deadly stuff,” however he admitted he “downplayed it” as a result of he didn’t need to panic folks — and didn’t push lifesaving well being tips to assist the American public. The pandemic has killed more than 1 million people within the U.S.
Woodward criticized Trump’s “sweeping disregard” for different folks and for different concepts. “It’s not simply ‘every little thing is mine,’” he added.
Woodward accused Trump of placing the presidency in “ethical free fall.”
Try Woodward’s full interview under. He addresses Trump’s perspective about every little thing being his within the presidency starting at 5:44.