President Donald Trump took to Twitter on Friday
evening to once again take shots at "Fire and Fury" author Michael Wolff
-- and former White House strategist Steve Bannon.
Trump retweeted a parody cover of the
book that the Republican Party had tweeted earlier Friday, and used it
as a springboard for his latest criticisms -- calling Wolff “a total
loser” and saying Bannon "cried when he got fired" and has been "dumped
like a dog by almost everyone" since leaving the White House in August.
The GOP's parody cover retitles the book "Liar and
Phony," and surrounds a photo of Wolff with blurbs from actual reviews
of his much-criticized White House exposé."He gets basic details wrong," a New York Times writer says about Wolff.
"Real factual errors ... makes you wonder about the overall content," notes a CNN reporter.
Then there's the full content of Trump's tweet:
“Michael Wolff is a total loser who made up stories in order to sell this really boring and untruthful book. He used Sloppy Steve Bannon, who cried when he got fired and begged for his job. Now Sloppy Steve has been dumped like a dog by almost everyone. Too bad!”
Tweets unleashed
In recent days Trump has unleashed a series of tweets attacking Wolff and the content of “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House,” which went on sale Friday.
Trump has also targeted Bannon, whose trash-talking of the president and his family have sparked the media frenzy surounding the book's release.
For example, the book quotes Bannon dismissing Trump's daughter, Ivanka Trump: “She became a White House staffer and that’s when people suddenly realized she’s as dumb as a brick.”
The book's Friday release was moved up from its original Jan. 9 release date, in part because of the swirl of publicity and also because Trump's legal team has demanded that the publication and release be halted.
In addition, the date was pushed up “due to unprecedented demand,” a spokesman for publisher Henry Holt and Company told Fox News in an email.
Earlier Friday, Trump claimed the book was merely a distraction from the investigation into the Trump team's possible collusion with Russia turning out to be a “hoax.”
“Well, now that collusion with Russia is proving to be a total hoax and the only collusion is with Hillary Clinton and the FBI/Russia, the Fake News Media (Mainstream) and this phony new book are hitting out at every new front imaginable. They should try winning an election. Sad!” Trump tweeted Friday morning.
In a tweet Thursday, the president attacked Wolff’s credibility, claiming he “authorized Zero access to White House (actually turned him down many times),” and that he “never spoke to him for book.”
Wolff fires back
However, Wolff fired back Friday morning during an interview with NBC’s “Today,” insisting that he did speak to the president, and “whether he realized it was an interview or not – it certainly was not off the record.”
Wolff claimed he spoke to the president for several hours over the course of the 2016 presidential campaign and after he took office, adding that his “window into Donald Trump is pretty significant.”
The author said he stands by his work.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Thursday dismissed the book as “tabloid gossip” that was laced with “false and fraudulent claims.”
Author Michael Wolff says he stands by the content of his White House book, "Fire and Fury."
(Associated Press)
Wolff wrote the book over 18 months, in which he claims to have spoken with more than 200 people. He said he had access to top officials inside the Trump administration, including the president, according to an interview Thursday with the Hollywood Reporter that details the backstory to the book's publishing.
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