Trump said ‘who the f— are you’ to GOP lawmaker after criticism of tweets: New book

President Trump reacted angrily to a Republican congressman who challenged him on false claims about the size of his inauguration crowd, responding, “Who the f— are you?” according to a new book.

The anecdote is included in a new book by Politico reporters Jake Sherman and Anna Palmer titled “A Hill To Die On.”

Rep. Bill Posey (R-Fla.) reportedly urged the president to stop the “tweets and whining about crowd size” at his inauguration, prompting Trump to respond, “Who the f— are you?” before repeating the falsehood that he had the “biggest inauguration” ever, according to an excerpt from the book mentioned by The Washington Post.

{mosads}The book also features an Oval Office interview with Trump in which he tells the authors that he was largely unbothered by the Democrats’ victory in the 2018 midterms, saying legislative quid pro quos among various factions of the Republican caucus made legislation impossible even with his party in control.

“Now, I just say ‘Hey, folks, let’s go. Give me legislation. Let me see. And if we like it, we’ll work on it,'” Trump told Sherman and Palmer, according to the Post.

Trump also told the authors that if Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) had failed to secure the votes among her caucus to assume the speakership, he would have asked his allies in the conservative House Freedom Caucus to contribute enough votes to put her over the top.

The book also delves into the relationship between House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) as they jockeyed to succeed retiring Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).

Scalise gathered advisers and allies at Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steakhouse to discuss possibly challenging McCarthy for the position of top Republican in the House, according to the book. McCarthy was reportedly furious when he discovered the dinner had taken place, but Scalise denied he was there. McCarthy told Scalise he had “had it” and would not serve on a divided leadership team.

“It’s completely inaccurate to suggest Whip Scalise lied to Leader McCarthy,” Scalise spokesperson Lauren Fine told the Post.