Author Michael Wolff blames his wanton suggestion that President Trump was having an extramarital affair with Nikki Haley on boastful “locker room talk.”
In his upcoming book, “Siege,” Wolff provided a short passage to explain the explosive controversy that elicited a stern rebuke from Haley herself.
“What was true here is that this was what he had said; it was a species of his famous locker-room talk. What was far from certain was that what he had said was true, and few around him gave it much credence,” he wrote.
[Related: Michael Wolff: Nikki Haley ’embraced’ rumors of affair with Trump]
Early last year, while promoting Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, Wolff told HBO host Bill Maher he was “absolutely sure” Trump was having an affair and indicated that there was a part of the book where readers would know he was referencing the woman. A line many pointed to in the book said, “The president had been spending a notable amount of private time with Haley on Air Force One and was seen to be grooming her for a national political future.”
Haley, who was U.S. ambassador to the United Nations at the time, called the rumors “absolutely not true,” “highly offensive,” and “disgusting.”
“I have literally been on Air Force One once and there were several people in the room when I was there,” she told Politico about a flight from Washington to Long Island, N.Y. in late July. “He says that I’ve been talking a lot with the president in the Oval about my political future. I’ve never talked once to the president about my future and I am never alone with him.”
Haley is married and has two children. Trump is married to first lady Melania Trump and has long denied multiple accusations that he had extramarital affairs.
The term “locker room talk” was used by Trump to explain his lewd conversation about women in the “Access Hollywood” tape that emerged during the 2016 election.
