Donald Trump has been heard on tape boasting about his “airtight” non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) with former aides and various other subjects in excerpts from a new audiobook.
Journalist Bob Woodward, one of the reporters behind the Watergate revealations in the 1970s, is publishing an audiobook that includes recordings of the former president, some of which have been shared with CNN ahead of the book’s release.
The Trump Tapes include eight hours of recorded interviews with Mr Trump, according to CNN.
One conversation on the tapes includes Mr Trump and his son Donald Trump Jr speaking about NDAs.
“I do have non-disclosure deals with,” Mr Trump says.
“Corey has one, Hope has one…” Mr Trump Jr responds, referring to previous staffers.
“Corey has one, Hope has one, to do so I won’t even ask one question even as I have,” Mr Trump adds.
“I don’t [have] one [and] I’m in the middle of a book…” Mr Trump Jr states jokingly.
“He’s the one I’m most worried about,” Mr Trump says.
“I’m not getting next week’s paycheck until I sign one,” Mr Trump Jr replies.
“Do you think these are airtight agreements that no one could write a book–?” Mr Woodward asks.
“I think they’re very airtight. I think they’re extremely airtight,” Mr Trump responds. “And anybody that violated it, let’s put it this way, it’s so airtight that I’ve never had, you know, I’ve never had a problem with this. I don’t like people that take your money and then say bad things about you. Okay?”
CNN also published an excerpt revealing Mr Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner joking and organising contacts for Mr Woodward with other Trump allies.
Mr Trump can also be heard in excerpts speaking about North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and yet another clip in which he seems to claim at the same time that he does and doesn’t get speech ideas from others.
“They said, ‘he’s going to get us into a war’. Remember, they were screaming–,” Mr Trump states.
“Yes, ‘my nuclear button is bigger than his…’” Mr Woodward says in reference to a statement by Mr Trump.
“That’s right, I said. Yeah. He talked about the button. Right? He said about the button on my desk. I said, ‘my button is bigger than yours and my button works’. He said, So, you know, stuff like that,” Mr Trump adds.
“Did somebody help you?” Mr Woodward asks at one point.
“Yeah, I get people, they come up with ideas, but the ideas are mine, Bob. But you know something? Everything’s mine,” Mr Trump says.
At one point during the recorded interviews, Mr Trump says “I respect Putin. I think Putin likes me. I think I like him”.
“Why don’t you give me your taxes?” Mr Woodward asks Mr Trump at one time, to which the former president simply scoffs.
“No, seriously,” Mr Woodward presses on.
“I will consider this one of my greatest achievements. Getting the scum out of government and it’s scum,” Mr Trump can be heard saying in a promo from publisher Simon and Schuster.
“I’ve done a tremendous amount for the Black community. And honestly, I’m not feeling any love ,” Mr Trump says at one point.
“Nothing scares me. If I was scared I wouldn’t be doing an interview with you today. I’d be under a table with my thumb in my mouth. Okay?” he adds.
“I hope you can be better than Bush because you made him look like a stupid moron, which he was,” Mr Trump can also be heard saying.
