White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said President Trump agreed to do 18 on-the-record interviews with Bob Woodward because he values transparency.
During a press conference on Wednesday, McEnany was asked by a reporter why the president agreed to do another series of interviews with Woodward after his first book about Trump, 2018’s Fear, was highly critical of him. McEnany credited Trump’s dedication to transparency.
“Because he is the most transparent president in history,” McEnany said.
Excerpts from Woodward’s latest book, Rage, were released on Wednesday, including a claim that Trump downplayed the severity of the coronavirus to the public early on in the pandemic. Woodward also reported that former Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats believed that Russian President Vladimir Putin “had something” on Trump.
Woodward’s first book about the Trump administration, Fear, similarly contained unflattering stories about the administration, including claims that Trump had ordered a preemptive attack on North Korea in the early days of his presidency and that then-chief of staff John Kelly called Trump an “idiot.”
