Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) believed former President Donald Trump may have impersonated a Washington Post reporter in a phone call during his presidency, according to a forthcoming book.
Dingell recalled getting a phone call from an unknown number, with the man on the other end identifying himself as a reporter with a name she did not recognize, according to Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America by Maggie Haberman. During that call, the man told Dingell he knew her husband through his investigations in Congress.
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“The man asked Dingell if she was looking for an apology from Trump. No, she replied, merely that people could be civil to one another,” Haberman wrote. “As the man talked, Dingell couldn’t shake the idea that his voice sounded like that of the forty-fifth president.”
Trump has form for using pseudonyms when trying to mask his identity, including his most well-known name John Barron, which he used throughout the 1980s as a “spokesperson” of the Trump Organization who would often voice Trump’s opinions or publicly support his decisions. Trump often used this pseudonym to talk to the press.
The bizarre story is one of several that Haberman documents in her forthcoming book, which details Trump’s legacy as a businessman before elevating himself to the presidency in 2016. The book also offers previously unreported details of the sometimes chaotic nature of the White House under Trump’s rule.
At several points in his presidency, Trump would attempt to pit aides or even family members against each other, according to the book. In one instance, he considered firing his daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, who were both senior White House aides, by simply posting on Twitter. However, he was reportedly stopped by then-chief of staff John Kelly, who told Trump he had to speak with them in person.
Trump also engaged in bizarre conversations as he prepared for candidate debates in 2016, according to the book. At one point, then-Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus helped Trump prepare by posing as a young transgender student and asking if someone like her could use the girls’ bathroom.
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“I have a question,” Trump said to a room full of his advisers, Haberman wrote. “Cocked or decocked?”
Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America is scheduled to be released on Tuesday.
