Veteran journalist Bob Woodward disclosed new information about a top aide to Vice President Mike Pence that was not included in his recent book about President Trump.
The Watergate sleuth appeared for an interview Thursday on MSNBC’s Morning Joe to discuss the vice presidential debate between Pence and Sen. Kamala Harris. He offered fresh insight into a Jan. 28 meeting, which Harris referenced during the Wednesday night debate, when White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien warned the president about the coronavirus pandemic.
“One of the things that’s not been reported and in fact I didn’t put it in my book, I should have, that meeting was so electric that Vice President Pence’s national security adviser, who’s retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, after that meeting for, many, many weeks would always say to the national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, ‘You warned them, you laid it out. You were the first to tell,'” Woodward said.
Woodward added, “So at that moment the lying began and that — you know, there is so much obfuscation, avoidance, fog here. What strikes me and one of the things I hope I have learned about covering Trump is you have to have very specific information.”
Details about the January meeting in the Oval Office was included in his book, Rage, which was published last month. He reported that O’Brien told the president, “This will be the biggest national security threat you face in your presidency,” and added, “This is going to be the roughest thing you face.”
Woodward’s book and audio of conversations with Trump led to a maelstrom of criticism of the commander in chief, who has long been critiqued for his response to the health crisis, particularly with the revelation that the president admitted to “playing [the coronavirus] down because I don’t want to create a panic.”
