WashPost Media Reporter: Trump-Book Author Accused of Inventing Quotes

Newsbusters.org ^ | January 4, 2018 | Tim Graham

[Kaslin]

On the front of Thursday's Style section, Washington Post media reporter Paul Farhi wrote a piece on blazing-hot author Michael Wolff and his Trump book Fire and Fury. The headline was "A whale of a Trump tale, but is it fishy?" Inside, the headline is "Wolff made up quotes, some of his sources say." 

After recounting all the hot stories about Trump and his former aide Steve Bannon, that revelation is tucked inside on page C-4: 

Wolff, for example, writes that Thomas Barrack Jr., a billionaire friend of Trump’s, told a friend that Trump is “not only crazy, he’s stupid.” Barrack on Wednesday denied to a New York Times reporter that he ever said such a thing.

Katie Walsh, a former White House adviser, has also disputed a comment attributed to her by Wolff, that dealing with Trump was “like trying to figure out what a child wants.”

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders added her own skepticism during her daily briefing on Wednesday. “We know the book has a lot of things, so far that we’ve seen, that are completely untrue,” she said. She was not specific, but Sanders added that Wolff’s characterizations of White House operations were “the opposite of what I saw.”

Wolff, 64, has said his book was based on 200 interviews with White House and campaign staffers, including Bannon. He didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment.

We should expect that NBC's exclusive interview with Wolff on Friday's Today will focus on the fake-news question. Farhi also found this pattern in Wolff's media columns for New York magazine: 

Judith Regan, then a hotshot book editor who had been a classmate of Wolff’s at Vassar, vigorously disputed almost every paragraph of Wolff’s column about her. She said she hadn’t had a personal conversation with Wolff in 30 years.

Wolff’s response: “She doesn’t speak to me. . . . I suppose the world is full of people who no longer speak to me.”

New Republic columnist Andrew Sullivan accused Wolff of putting words in his mouth when Wolff wrote in 2001 that Sullivan “believes that he is the most significant gay public intellectual in America today.” Sullivan said he never made any such claim.

Farhi also thought it was fishy for Wolff to claim Trump didn't know who John Boehner was when Fox News boss Roger Ailes recommended him as a chief-of-staff pick. This is how the story ended: 

Even Wolff’s anecdote about Trump being unaware of who Boehner was last year seems a bit suspect. The reason? Trump had tweeted about Boehner multiple times since 2011. In September 2015, for example, Trump tweeted this: “Wacky @glennbeck who always seems to be crying (worse than Boehner) speaks badly of me only because I refuse to do his show — a real nut job!”

Trump-bashers on MSNBC are already making excuses. Host Stephanie Ruhle championed the view that “Even if not all of it is true, the spirit of the book is."

[JLAGRAYFOX]

Wolff is human scum, Bannon is human vermin. Case Closed!!!

[JLAGRAYFOX]

Wolff is human scum, Bannon is human vermin. Case Closed!!!

[Red Badger]

First Slate, now WaPo.................Pigs are flying!..................

[Pollard]

Bottom line. This guy visited the WH at Bannon’s behest according to Sarah Sanders

[rdcbn]

Wolff’s went to Vassar?

Vassar is a women’s college

[FrankR]

upload photo link

[Fantasywriter]

I’ll believe Bannon’s quotes are fabricated the minute Bannon unambiguously states that they are—and not a moment sooner.

[shelterguy]

“””””Wolff’s went to Vassar?

Vassar is a women’s college””””””””””

He’s a crossdresser, Jim.

[lonevoice]

Trump-bashers on MSNBC are already making excuses. Host Stephanie Ruhle championed the view that “Even if not all of it is true, the spirit of the book is."

We're going to be treated to salacious, unsubstantiated gossip for the next several news cycles, and the MSM is invoking the shameful Dan Rather defense: "The documents may be fake, but they're accurate!"

[Navy Patriot]

WashPost Media Reporter: Trump-Book Author Accused of Inventing Quotes

I did not use the word "Accused"!

[Yo-Yo]

Wolffie claims to have recordings, so we will eventually find out if the quotes are accurate or not.

[JBW1949]

Vassar went coed in 1969...

[katykelly]

Fake but accurate .

[Navy Patriot]

Host Stephanie Ruhle championed the view that “Even if not all of it is true, the spirit of the book is."

However, Ruhle failed to note that the "Spirit" of the book is Sedition and Treason.

[jiggyboy]

“Even if not all of it is true, the spirit of the book is."

Fun fact for the whipper snappers: The phrase "Fake But Accurate" was coined in all seriousness by the New York Times in 2004, as the faked Texas Air National Guard documents hoax designed to wreck President Bush's re-election was falling apart.

[Sarah Barracuda]

Sebastian Gorka told Sean Hannity last night how he was approached by Wolf to do an interview and Gorka looked this guy up saw his history about lying about people, and declined his offer. The whole “Trump did not know who Boehner was” is total BS considering Donald Trump has been mocking Boehner and his crying episodes for years, so he mocked the guy but had NO clue who he was..Also, the “Trump did not want to be President” so let me get this straight, he didn’t want to be President, but he colluded with Russia to win the election LOL..this whole book is a farce

[jjotto]

Without knowing Bannon, I’ll say that I have suspicions that Bannon may not himself know whether he is accurately quoted, due to him being ‘under the influence’.

I do view Bannon as a net force for good regardless.

[Responsibility2nd]

Indeed!

If anyone knows a Fake News pack of lies - it’s the Compost.

[Sarah Barracuda]

Liberals always make excuses for their lies..like when women lie about being raped and its proven that they lied the left will say “Well, even though she lied rape is real so its all good”