President Trump referred to Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi as a “f—ing killer,” according to journalist Bob Woodward.
Trump made the comments after his negotiations with the Egyptian president to secure the release of 30-year-old charity worker Aya Hijazi.
In an excerpt first noticed by Newsweek of Woodward’s newly released book, “Fear: Trump in the White House,” Woodward recalls a conversation between the president and John Dowd, his former attorney.
{mosads}”Dowd, remember who I’m talking to,” Trump says in the book, reportedly referring to el-Sisi. “The guy’s a f—ing killer. This guy’s a f—ng killer! I’m getting it done.”
Trump added el-Sisi will “make you sweat on the phone,” before launching into an impression of el-Sissi: “Donald, I’m worried about this investigation. Are you going to be around? Suppose I need a favor, Donald?”
The president called el-Sisi’s remarks, apparently about the special counsel investigation by Robert Mueller into the Russian election interference, as a “kick in the nuts,” Woodward reports.
The White House has battled claims made in Woodward’s book, which was officially released Tuesday, for days since the first excerpts appeared in The Washington Post last week.
Trump administration officials have characterized the book, which contains many damaging claims and anecdotes about the administration and Trump himself, as a work of “fiction,” while individual officials quoted in the pages have come forward to describe their quotes as inaccurate.
The president himself has lashed out at Woodward over the book, vowing Monday morning to counter Woodward’s reporting with “the real book.”
“The Woodward book is a Joke — just another assault against me, in a barrage of assaults, using now disproven unnamed and anonymous sources. Many have already come forward to say the quotes by them, like the book, are fiction. Dems can’t stand losing. I’ll write the real book!” Trump wrote on Twitter Monday.