'Everyone around Trump thinks he's a charlatan, a fool, an idiot': Fire and Fury author Wolff twists knife on US President as he boasts 'I got to a truth no one else has gotten'
The author of what Donald Trump has called a 'Fake Book' about his presidency has claimed everyone around the American leader thinks he is a 'charlatan' and an 'idiot'.
Michael Wolff, whose 'Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House' has prompted a furious response from the commander-in-chief, also said his book 'got to a truth no else had gotten to' about the 'fool' in the White House.
He said that - despite around three hours of conversations with President Trump - he is not sure if the president is 'clinically off his rocker'.
The interview with The Guardian comes just after the president took to Twitter to blast Wolff as 'mentally deranged'.
Trump tweeted about Wolff's CNN appearance on Saturday: 'So much Fake News is being reported. They don't even try to get it right, or correct it when they are wrong. They promote the Fake Book of a mentally deranged author, who knowingly writes false information.'
But Wolff is unfazed, stressing that his book has become an 'international political event'.
He explained: 'I got to a truth that no one else had gotten to.
Michael Wolff (pictured), whose 'Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House' has prompted a furious response from the commander-in-chief, also said his book 'got to a truth no else had gotten to' about the 'fool' in the White House
'Everyone around Trump thinks he's a charlatan, a fool, an idiot and someone ultimately not capable of functioning in this job.'
He also said the president is 'deeply unpredictable, irrational, at times bordering on incoherent, [and] self-obsessed in a disconcerting way.'
Wolff, who according to Bloomberg News could earn $7.4million from his bestselling book, said President Trump 'wants somebody else to do his work'.
Everyone around Trump thinks he's a charlatan, a fool, an idiot and someone ultimately not capable of functioning in this job,' Wolff said
Wolff, who could stand to earn $7.4million from his bestselling book (pictured), said President Trump 'wants somebody else to do his work'
He added: 'I've talked to a number of Donald Trump friends and cronies. He ran on the idea of 'I'm a negotiator' but they all say he's never negotiated anything. Negotiation requires detailed understanding. It's methodical. He can't do it.'
Wolff also appeared to taunt Trump in the interview, explaining that the president's attempt to block his book's publication only succeeded in drawing more attention to his work.
'He just shoots himself in the foot at every opportunity,' he added.
Wolff also makes the no-too immodest claim that Fire and Fury has become an 'international political event', one which has shaped the news agenda for coming on two weeks.
However, Wolff also makes the assertion that the furore caused by the book has baffled him somewhat.
'Almost all of the stuff that has been focused on seems kind of random to me,' said Wolff. 'It's all explosive because that's the thing about Donald Trump. He's so anomalous, so not what he's supposed to be, that everything he does is at some level preposterous.'
Big Boy: Michael Wolff says he does feel for Steve Bannon after the former Breitbart chief spoke to him and gave him explosive behind the scenes details and access that he used for his book
Pressed again on his aspersions about Trump's mental acuity, Wolff qualifies himself and says that many people in the White House are concerned about the president.
'I do know, from what I saw and what I heard from people around him, that Donald Trump is deeply unpredictable, irrational, at times bordering on incoherent, self-obsessed in a disconcerting way, and displays all those kinds of traits that anyone would reasonably say, 'What's going on here, is something wrong?' said Wolff to the Guardian.
The New York journalist says that Trump's lawsuit to try and get the book banned before it hit the shelves is an example of his wild manner.
'It's another example of him being out of control,' said Wolff. 'I know that everybody was trying to stop him from doing this. He couldn't be stopped. His head had exploded, so he did what no president has ever done: attempt to sue someone for defamation and invasion of privacy.
Asked about his rumored primary source for much of the explosive material, Wolff says that Steve Bannon was probably aware he was going to leave the White House sooner rather than later.
However, when asked what Bannon was thinking when he accused Donald Trump Jr. of a 'treasonous' meeting with the Russians, Wolff denies he had been drinking.
'No. He was not drunk. I've never seen him drunk, though I've seen him refuse drinks many times...' said Wolff.
Wolff believes that Bannon had realized Trump was an 'idiot' and that he gambled everything on the election of far-right candidate Roy Moore to the senate from Alabama.
'My theory is he thought Roy Moore was going to win,' said Wolff.
'That would make Bannon kingmaker and Trump the loser. Bannon would have gone into 2018 as the guy with all the leverage. Bannon had come to the conclusion that Trump, in addition to being an idiot, was an impediment to his true populist agenda.'
He also says he feels guilty about the position he has put Bannon in, but does not have too much sympathy.
'I feel a little guilty that I put him in a position he did not intend to be in. But he’s a big boy, and he was well aware of the risks he took when he spoke to me.' said Wolff.
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