Trump slams Woodward's book as a 'fraud' and DENIES ever calling Sessions 'mentally retarded' after claims Kelly called the president an 'idiot' and Mattis bemoaned his grade-school intellect

• Bombshell book says Kelly and Mattis questioned president's mental faculties
• President dismissed quotes as 'made up' and accused the author of being biased
• Trump allegedly called Jeff Sessions 'dumb Southerner' and 'mentally retarded' 
• He denied these claims in another angry tweet posted at 11pm on Tuesday 
• Veteran Watergate journalist Bob Woodward also quotes numerous other aides 
• Claims ex-economy advisor Gary Cohn branded the president 'professional liar'
• Says lawyer John Dowd told him not to testify to Robert Mueller due to legal peril
• Dowd allegedly told president: 'Don't testify. It's either that or orange jumpsuit'

Donald Trump has slammed Bob Woodward's bombshell book as a 'fraud' and denied ever calling attorney general Jeff Sessions 'mentally retarded'.

'The already discredited Woodward book, so many lies and phony sources, has me calling Jeff Sessions “mentally retarded” and “a dumb southerner". I said NEITHER, never used those terms on anyone, including Jeff, and being a southerner is a GREAT thing. He made this up to divide!' he tweeted at 11pm on Tuesday.  

Trump also tweeted statements from John Kelly and James Mattis that refuted quotes attributed to them by Woodward questioning his mental faculties. Kelly allegedly called Trump an 'idiot' while Mattis compared him to a 'fifth grader'.

'The Woodward book has already been refuted and discredited by General (Secretary of Defense) James Mattis and General (Chief of Staff) John Kelly. Their quotes were made up frauds, a con on the public. Likewise other stories and quotes. Woodward is a Dem operative? Notice timing?'

Donald Trump tweeted on Tuesday to accuse famed Watergate reporter Bob Woodward of fabricating quotes and information in his new book, Fear: Trump in the White House 

At 11pm [ET] Trump went on to deny another claim in the book regarding slurs he allegedly made against Attorney General Jeff Sessions

'This guy is mentally retarded. He's this dumb Southerner,' Trump (left, on August 29) reportedly said of his attorney general, Jeff Sessions, who recused himself from the Russia probe. He is pictured in DC on August 31

rump repeatedly ripped into sessions after he decided to to recuse himself from the Russia probe.

In addition to calling him a 'traitor', the President allegedly said: 'This guy is mentally retarded. He's this dumb Southerner. … He couldn't even be a one-person country lawyer down in Alabama.' 

Woodward quoted Kelly as ripping in to Trump after he blew a fuse at a meeting. 

'He's an idiot. It's pointless to try to convince him of anything. He's gone off the rails,' the White House Chief of Staff allegedly said. 'We're in Crazytown. I don't even know why any of us are here. This is the worst job I've ever had.'

But Kelly hit back at the claims on Tuesday, saying in a statement: 'The idea that I ever called the President is not true, in fact it's exactly the opposite... 

'This is both a pathetic attempt to smear people close to President Trump and distract from his many successes.'

In another episode, Trump questioned the utility of U.S. early warning systems in Alaska to identify a nuclear attack from North Korea.

When Trump asked about it, Defense Secretary Mattis schooled him: 'We're doing this in order to prevent World War III.

Mattis then told colleagues Trump had the mental ability of 'a fifth- or sixth-grader.'

But on Tuesday he denied the account, saying: 'The contemptuous words about the President attributed to me in Woodward's book were never uttered by me or in my presence.

'While I generally enjoy reading fiction, this is a uniquely Washington brand of literature, and his anonymous sources do not lend credibility.' 

A Pentagon spokesman, Col. Rob Manning, said Mattis was never interviewed by Woodward.

'Mr. Woodward never discussed or verified the alleged quotes included in his book with Secretary Mattis' or anyone within the Defense Department, Manning said. 

Previous accounts during Trump's first year had former secretary of state Rex Tillerson calling Trump a 'moron,' and Tillerson did not explicitly deny it. This would mean three of Trump's most senior advisors have ridiculed his mental capacity.   

Woodward also reported that after Syria's Bashar Assad launched a chemical weapons attack on civilians in April 2017, Trump called Mattis and said he wanted the Syrian leader taken out, saying: 'Let's f***ing kill him! Let's go in. Let's kill the f***ing lot of them'

Mattis assured Trump he would get right on it but then told a senior aide they'd do nothing of the kind, Woodward wrote. National security advisers instead developed options for the airstrike that Trump ultimately ordered.

U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley denied Tuesday that Trump had ever planned to assassinate Assad. She told reporters at U.N. headquarters that she had been privy to conversations about the Syrian chemical weapons attacks, 'and I have not once ever heard the president talk about assassinating Assad.'

She said people should take what is written in books about the president with 'a grain of salt.'

Defense Secretary Mattis (left, at the Pentagon on August 28) and Kelly, White House chief of staff, (right, in the White House on August 27) both questioned quotes attributed to them

Trump also tweeted official statements from Kelly and Mattis as part of a barrage of posts on Tuesday evening

In a taped phone call with Trump that the journalist released hand-in-hand with excerpts from the forthcoming book on Tuesday, Woodward recounts how he tried to reach the president to fact-check claims he had made.

Trump says he wished he had known about the book – which was already coming out at the time of the call.

'I never got a call. I never got a message,' the president said at first. 'Who did you ask about speaking to me?'

Woodward told him he had lunch with counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway where he pressed her on getting a Trump interview – prompting Trump to admonish his former campaign manager while she was in the room.

At one point during the back-and-forth, Conway walked into the room where Trump was speaking, and he invited her to jump on the call.

'You and I spent a whole lunch on it, Kellyanne ... And you said you would get back to me. Nothing,' Woodward told her.

Conway then told Woodward: 'Yeah. So, I did. I presented it to the people here who make those decisions,' without naming names.

'Who are the people?' Woodward asked, but he got no response. At that point, without answering, Conway jumped off the call, and Trump got back on.

Trump then faulted Woodward for not calling him directly.

'But you never called for me. It would have been nice, Bob, if you called for me in my office,' Trump said.

'Kellyanne went to somebody, but she didn't come to me. And she should have come to me,' Trump said.  

The president noted that the book was almost certain to contain embarrassing information about his administration - and that it would probably be 'very inaccurate' as he geared up for the coming bloodbath.

Woodward assured him that it wouldn't, and the two ended the call that took place in August amicably. 

The president was singing a different tune on Tuesday, hinting that Woodward could have 'made up' anecdotes in his book, including a story about Gary Cohn absconding with an order to end the United States' trade deal with South Korea to keep Trump from making an international mess.

'That's false. It's just made up,' Trump told The Daily Caller in a furious response to the book. 'There was nobody taking anything from me.'

Trump suggested that 'disgruntled employees' may have made the claims -- or that they could have been falsified Woodward in their entirety.

'It could just be made up by the author,' Trump said of the journalist he once defended on Twitter against slights levied against him by the Obama administration.

The damaging statement about the widely respected journalist had former President George W. Bush's White House Press Secretary Ari Fleisher shaking his head.

'I've been on the receiving end of a Bob Woodward book. There were quotes in it I didn't like. But never once - never - did I think Woodward made it up,' Fleisher said. 'Anonymous sources have looser lips and may take liberties. But Woodward always plays is straight. Someone told it to him.'

Trump's press secretary piled on with a statement that said: 'This book is nothing more than fabricated stories, many by former disgruntled employees, told to make the President look bad.'

In the response to Woodward's book, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders argued that 'sometimes' Trump's approach to the office is 'unconventional' but it 'always gets results.'

'Democrats and their allies in the media understand the President's policies are working and with success like this, no one can beat him in 2020 – not even close.' 

The White House did not hold a televised question and answer session with reporters again on Tuesday, choosing instead to respond to the explosive book that hits shelves on Sept. 11 through written statements.

Trump held off on eviscerating Woodward on Twitter, as well, responding to him instead in the interview with The Daily Caller.

MAYBE HE MADE IT UP: That was Trump's charge on Tuesday as he tried to get out from under Woodward's damaging allegations. Ari Fleisher, the former press secretary to George W. Bush, said in a tweet that the charge didn't add up

Trump was once a fan of Bob Woodward - but now the president says he might be a liar

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders dismissed the work of the famed journalist as 'nothing more than fabricated stories'

The book also recounts efforts by Cohn to try to head-off what he considered rash or ill-advised policy moves by Trump.

Cohn 'stole a letter off Trump's desk' to prevent the president from executing a planned withdrawal from the United States-South Korea trade pact.

The book even ventures into the advice Trump received from his former lead lawyer on the Russia investigation, John Dowd. 

'Don't testify. It's either that or an orange jumpsuit,' he advised Trump, according to the book. 

Dowd is also said to have explained to special counsel Robert Mueller face-to-face that he didn't want his client to testify, because he feared that Trump would be cast as an imbecile.

He reportedly told him: 'I'm not going to sit there and let him look like an idiot. And you publish that transcript, because everything leaks in Washington, and the guys overseas are going to say, 'I told you he was an idiot. I told you he was a goddamn dumbbell. What are we dealing with this idiot for?''

According to Woodward, Mueller replied: 'John, I understand.' 

Extracts from veteran Watergate reporter Bob Woodard's (left) new book (right) set off explosions across the political world 

Dowd said Tuesday in emails to the Washington Examiner that anecdotes and quotes attributed to him – including a claim that he called Trump a 'f**king liar' and that a mock session with Trump in advance of a potential interview with Mueller revealed the 'full nightmare' he was dealing with – are not true. 

'I have not read Bob Woodward's book, which appears to be the most recent in an endless cycle of accusations and misrepresentations based on anonymous statements from unknown malcontents,' he told the outlet. 

'I do not intend to address every inaccurate statement attributed to me – but I do want to make this clear: there was no so-called 'practice session' or 're-enactment' of a mock interview at the Special Counsel's office. Further, I did not refer to the President as a 'liar' and did not say that he was likely to end up in an 'orange jump suit.' 

The email from Dowd concluded: 'It was a great honor and distinct privilege to serve President Trump.'

Dowd said Tuesday in emails to the Washington Examiner that anecdotes and quotes attributed to him – including a claim that he called Trump a 'f**king liar' and that a mock session with Trump in advance of a potential interview with Mueller revealed the 'full nightmare' he was dealing with – are not true. 

'I have not read Bob Woodward's book, which appears to be the most recent in an endless cycle of accusations and misrepresentations based on anonymous statements from unknown malcontents,' he told the outlet. 

'I do not intend to address every inaccurate statement attributed to me – but I do want to make this clear: there was no so-called 'practice session' or 're-enactment' of a mock interview at the Special Counsel's office. Further, I did not refer to the President as a 'liar' and did not say that he was likely to end up in an 'orange jump suit.' 

The email from Dowd concluded: 'It was a great honor and distinct privilege to serve President Trump.'

Trump said his former chief of staff, Reince Priebus, (pictured in DC on February 7) scurries around 'like a rat'

Former director of the U.S. National Economic Council Gary Cohn snatched a letter off Trump's desk to keep him from precipitously moving to pull out of a trade deal. Cohn is seen on the right next to Jared Kushner on March 8

Woodward also described an argument between Ivanka Trump and then chief White House strategist Steve Bannon.

'You're a goddamn staffer!' Bannon allegedly screamed at her, explaining she had to work through Priebus like other aides. 'You walk around this place and act like you're in charge, and you're not. You're on staff!'

Ivanka replied: 'I'm not a staffer! I'll never be a staffer. I'm the first daughter.' 

According to another anecdote, Trump told former staff secretary Rob Porter former chief of staff Reince Priebus was 'like a little rat. He just scurries around.'

Porter in turn allegedly said on Trump: 'A third of my job was trying to react to some of the really dangerous ideas that he had and try to give him reasons to believe that maybe they weren't such good ideas.' 

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, 80, a billionaire investor, wasn't spared Trump's criticism, either.

'I don't trust you. I don't want you doing any more negotiations. … You're past your prime,' Trump reportedly told him. 

Trump also reportedly called his personal Rudy Giuliani a 'baby', and compared former national security adviser H.R. McMaster to a 'beer salesman'. 

The book follows the January release of author Michael Wolff's 'Fire and Fury,' which led to a rift between Trump and Steve Bannon, his former chief strategist, who spoke with Wolff in terms that were highly critical of the president and his family. Wolff's book attracted attention with its vivid anecdotes but suffered from numerous factual inaccuracies.

Woodward's work also comes weeks after former White House aide and 'Apprentice' contestant Omarosa Manigault Newman published an expose on her time in the West Wing, including audio recordings of her firing by Kelly and a follow-up conversation with the president in which he claimed to have been unaware of Kelly's decision.

While White House aides have become increasingly numb to fresh scandals, the latest book still increased tensions in the West Wing, especially given the intimate details shared and the number of people Woodward appeared to have interviewed. 

Some White House officials expressed surprise at the number of erstwhile Trump loyalists willing to offer embarrassing stories of the president and his inner circle.

White House aides on Tuesday coordinated with other officials quoted in the book to dispute troublesome passages. But insiders speculated the fallout could be worse than that from 'Fire and Fury,' given Woodward's storied reputation.

Woodward's book was already ranked the top-selling book on Amazon on Tuesday.

Trump has been increasingly critical of anonymous sources used by reporters covering his administration. Woodward's account relies on deep background conversations with sources, meaning their identities are not disclosed.