WASHINGTON -- Longtime Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward's new book on U.S. President Donald Trump's first 18 months in office includes some incendiary comments attributed to the president and key former and current White House staffers. Trump and other officials have denied some accounts. A look at some of the most explosive passages:
White House Chief of Staff John Kelly on working for Trump: "He's an idiot. It's pointless to try to convince him of anything. He's gone off the rails. We're in crazytown."
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Trump on Attorney General Jeff Sessions: "This guy is mentally retarded. He's this dumb Southerner. ... How in the world was I ever persuaded to pick him for my attorney general? ... He couldn't even be a one-person country lawyer down in Alabama. What business does he have being attorney general?"
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Trump after making a speech condemning white supremacists over violence in Charlottesville: "That was the biggest f---ing mistake I've made. ... You never make those concessions. You never apologize. I didn't do anything wrong in the first place. Why look weak?"
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Trump to former director of the National Economic Council Gary Cohn when he tried to resign post-Charlottesville: "This is treason."
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Defence Secretary of Jim Mattis on Iranian leaders: "Those idiot raghead mullahs."
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Trump on his Twitter habits: Woodward recounts that after the messaging platform doubled its character count for a single tweet from 140 to 280, Trump told then-White House staff secretary Rob Porter, "It's a good thing, but it's a bit of a shame because I was the Ernest Hemingway of 140 characters."
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Trump on his nickname for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un: "Little Rocket Man. ... I think that may be my best ever, best nickname ever."
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Ivanka Trump, when told she was a "staffer" by Steve Bannon: "I'm not a staffer! ... I'll never be a staffer. I'm the first daughter and I'm never going to be a staffer."
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Deputy Chief of Staff Zach Fuentes on Kelly: "He's not a detail guy. ... Never put more than one page in front of him."
