WASHINGTON—President Trump bragged that he had saved a Saudi crown prince who the CIA concluded ordered the murder of a U.S. journalist and prominent Saudi critic. He derided U.S. generals as a “bunch of pussies,” while his son-in-law and senior adviser dismissed some early White House officials as “overconfident idiots.” And some of Mr. Trump’s top advisers last year discussed the possible need to speak out about what they viewed as the dangers of his presidency.
That is according to “Rage” by Bob Woodward, which is based on 18 interviews he conducted with Mr. Trump and interviews with firsthand participants and witnesses, according to the author.
Recordings published on Wednesday of Mr. Woodward’s interviews with the president revealed that Mr. Trump in March told the journalist he was deliberately playing down the severity of coronavirus to avoid inciting panic, even as he publicly dismissed the virus’s threat in a way public-health experts say harmed the nation’s ability to restrict its spread. He also told Mr. Woodward on Feb. 7 that the virus was “deadly stuff”—weeks before he publicly acknowledged the threat posed by the virus.
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