President Trump told veteran journalist Bob Woodward that he wasn’t informed of Woodward’s attempts to interview him for his forthcoming book and would have participated if he had been.
Woodward said during the phone call with Trump last month, after the manuscript was complete, that he contacted six or seven people in the White House but never heard back on his request to interview the president, according to a transcript of a phone conversation between the two men published by The Washington Post.
{mosads}White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, who was present on a portion of the phone call, said she “put in the request.”
“But you know, they — it was rejected,” she said. “I can only take it so far. I guess I can bring it right to the president next time.”
Trump said during the call that he regretted not being able to be interviewed by Woodward, saying that the reporter has “always been fair.”
“It’s really too bad, because nobody told me about it, and I would’ve loved to have spoken to you,” he said, according to the Post. “You know I’m very open to you. I think you’ve always been fair.”
Trump also said during the phone call that the book is going to be a “negative book” and a “bad book” but he’s “50 percent used to that.”
The book, “Fear: Trump in the White House,” hits shelves next week.