(MENAFN- Gulf Times) President
Donald Trump yesterday assailed as a ‘Fake Book' an explosive
behind-the-scenes account that questions his fitness for office, as
allies lined up to defend the president, with one dubbing him a
'political genius.
The White House has been pushing back hard
against the unflattering portrayal of the president in Fire and Fury, a
supposed tell-all book published on Friday about the Trump
administration by journalist Michael Wolff.
Trump tweeted yesterday
that the instant bestseller — which paints him as disengaged and
unstable, with signs of serious memory loss — was a 'Fake Book, written
by a totally discredited author.
A day earlier, pushing back at Wolff's suggestion that he lacked stability, Trump called himself a 'very stable genius.
Senior
Trump policy adviser Stephen Miller treated the book derisively while
insisting that his boss was in fact 'a political genius, in an
interview on CNN yesterday.
The book's author, Miller said, 'is a garbage author of a garbage book...nothing but a pile of trash.
He
assailed his former White House colleague Steve Bannon, reportedly a
key source for the book, as 'vindictive and 'out of touch with
reality.
Meantime, CIA director Mike Pompeo, appearing on Fox News
Sunday, insisted that Wolff's portrayal of Trump was 'just pure
fantasy.
Far from being detached and unable to deal with complex
policy issues, Pompeo said, 'The president is engaged, he understands
the complexity, he asks really difficult questions of our team at the
CIA.
He described Trump as an 'avid consumer of the agency's intelligence.
Pompeo added that Trump was 'completely fit, saying it was 'ludicrous to suggest otherwise.
But
in a possible sign of White House sensitivities over the book, Miller
lashed out in an unusually raw clash with his CNN interviewer, Jake
Tapper.
When Tapper attempted to question Miller about his work with
Bannon, the interview deteriorated into a rapid-fire series of mutual
interruptions and recriminations.
Miller called Tapper
'condescending and 'snide, and accused CNN of engaging in 'negative
anti-Trump hysterical coverage and 'spectacularly embarrassing false
reporting.
The two men repeatedly spoke over each other before
Tapper declared, 'I think I've wasted enough of my viewers' time. Thank
you Stephen, then turned away from Miller — who was still talking — to
tersely announce the next guest.
Miller was not treated kindly in the
Wolff book. The author wrote that Miller 'was supposed to be the house
intellectual but was militantly unread. He was supposed to be a
communications specialist, but he antagonized almost everyone.
Miller's
combative performance on CNN got a thumbs up from his boss. 'Jake
Tapper of Fake News CNN just got destroyed in his interview with Stephen
Miller of the Trump Administration. Watch the hatred and unfairness of
this CNN flunky! Trump tweeted after the segment aired.
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