Trump denounces Wolff's book as 'full of lies'
Washington: US President Donald Trump today dismissed as "full of lies" a new explosive book about his administration that has taken the White House by storm after his lawyers failed to block its release.
Trump tweeted that he gave author Michael Wolff "zero access" to the White House for his book, "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House", which is set to be released today.
"I authorised Zero access to White House (actually turned him down many times) for author of phony book! I never spoke to him for book. Full of lies, misrepresentations and sources that don't exist," Trump tweeted.
"Look at this guy s past and watch what happens to him and Sloppy Steve!" Trump wrote, apparently referring to his former chief strategist Steve Bannon, who is quoted extensively in the book.
The book which is sending shock waves to the Trump administration is releasing today, two days ahead of the schedule after Trump s lawyers made a move to stop its release.
American journalist and author Wolff tweeted: Here we go. You can buy it (and read it) tomorrow. Thank you, Mr President.
The book, which is highly critical of Trump and his family, claims that president was "befuddled" by his election win, did not enjoy his inauguration and was scared of the White House.
Wolff says his work is based on more than 200 interviews and that he took up "something like a semi-permanent seat on a couch in the West Wing" following the president's inauguration for a close-up insight into the fledgling administration.
Trump s attorney has sent a cease and desists letter to former White House Chief Strategist Bannon for making liable comments against the president and the first family.
The White House has attacked the book, with press secretary Sarah Sanders calling it "complete fantasy" and full of tabloid gossip.
Sanders during her daily news conference said that the president absolutely believes in the First Amendment.
"But the President also believes in making sure that information is accurate before pushing it out as fact when it certainly and clearly is not, she said.
"There are numerous mistakes, but I'm not going to waste my time or the country's time going page by page, talking about a book that's complete fantasy and just full of tabloid gossip, because it's sad, pathetic, and our administration and our focus is going to be on moving the country forward, Sanders said.
Sanders said there are numerous examples of falsehoods in the book.
"The fact that there was a claim that the president did not know who John Boehner was is pretty ridiculous considering the majority of you have seen photos and, frankly, some of you have even tweeted out that the president not only knows him but has played golf with him, tweeted about him, she told reporters.
"I mean, that's pretty simple and pretty basic, she asserted.
The White House, however, refused to respond to questions related to Trump s attorney.
She took strong objection to the question that Trump, according to the book, did not want to win.
"The president, the First Lady, his family -- they wouldn't have put themselves through that process if, one, they didn't believe they could win, and two, they didn't want to win. This was something they were very committed to and have been committed to since taking office, and will continue to do so over the next seven years, she said.
"It is absolutely laughable to think that somebody like this president would run for office with the purpose of losing. If you guys know anything, you know that Donald Trump is a winner, and he's not going to do something for the purpose of not coming out on top and not coming out as a winner. That's one of the most ridiculous things the claims in the book, she said.
The book, she noted, says that Bannon had been side lined by April, which goes further to indicate that he had very little credibility to give much information, particularly after that point, which most of the book is based after that timeframe.
"This book is mistake, after mistake, after mistake, she said.
"It's completely tabloid, gossip full of false and fraudulent claims, Sanders said.
The White House press secretary said the author of the book, contrary to the claims, had no access to the White House or the president.
"In fact, there are probably more than 30 requests for access to information from Wolff that were repeatedly denied, including, within that, at least two dozen requests of him asking to have an interview with the president, which he never did. He never discussed this book with the President, Sanders said.
"That would be the most important voice that you could have if you were looking to write a book about an individual, would be to have some time with him. He never did. He was repeatedly denied that. I think because we saw him for what he was, and there was no reason for us to waste the president of the United States' time," she said.
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Trouble ‘Miyas’ everywhere only then they will leave Assam: Himanta Biswa Sarma
Says “Himanta Biswa Sarma, BJP are openly against them, we are saying it openly
New Delhi: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday said that four to five lakh “Miya voters” would be removed from the electoral rolls in the state once the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists is carried out. He also made a series of controversial remarks openly targeting the Miya community, a term commonly used in Assam in a derogatory sense to refer to Bengali-speaking Muslims.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an official programme in Digboi in Tinsukia district, Sarma said it was his responsibility to create difficulties for the Miya community and claimed that both he and the BJP were “directly against Miyas”.
“Four to five lakh Miya votes will have to be deleted in Assam when the SIR happens,” Sarma said, adding that such voters “should ideally not be allowed to vote in Assam, but in Bangladesh”. He asserted that the government was ensuring that they would not be able to vote in the state.
The chief minister was responding to questions about notices issued to thousands of Bengali-speaking Muslims during the claims and objections phase of the ongoing Special Revision (SR) of electoral rolls in Assam. While the Election Commission is conducting SIR exercises in 12 states and Union Territories, Assam is currently undergoing an SR, which is usually meant for routine updates.
Calling the current SR “preliminary”, Sarma said that a full-fledged SIR in Assam would lead to large-scale deletion of Miya voters. He said he was unconcerned about criticism from opposition parties over the issue.
“Let the Congress abuse me as much as they want. My job is to make the Miya people suffer,” Sarma said. He claimed that complaints filed against members of the community were done on his instructions and that he had encouraged BJP workers to keep filing complaints.
“I have told people wherever possible they should fill Form 7 so that they have to run around a little and are troubled,” he said, adding that such actions were meant to send a message that “the Assamese people are still living”.
In remarks that drew further outrage, Sarma urged people to trouble members of the Miya community in everyday life, claiming that “only if they face troubles will they leave Assam”. He also accused the media of sympathising with the community and warned journalists against such coverage.
“So you all should also trouble, and you should not do news that sympathise with them. There will be love jihad in your own house.” He said.
The comments triggered reactions from opposition leaders. Raijor Dal president and MLA Akhil Gogoi said the people of Assam had not elected Sarma to keep one community under constant pressure. Congress leader Aman Wadud accused the chief minister of rendering the Constitution meaningless in the state, saying his remarks showed a complete disregard for constitutional values.
According to the draft electoral rolls published on December 27, Assam currently has 2.51 crore voters. Election officials said 4.78 lakh names were marked as deceased, 5.23 lakh as having shifted, and 53,619 duplicate entries were removed during the revision process. Authorities also claimed that verification had been completed for over 61 lakh households.
On January 25, six opposition parties the Congress, Raijor Dal, Assam Jatiya Parishad, CPI, CPI(M) and CPI(M-L) submitted a memorandum to the state’s chief electoral officer. They alleged widespread legal violations, political interference and selective targeting of genuine voters during the SR exercise, describing it as arbitrary, unlawful and unconstitutional.
