WASHINGTON
NEWS USA TODAY z WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2019 z 3A
The book’s author is identified only
as “a senior official in the Trump ad-
ministration,” and its forthcoming pub-
lication has created a firestorm over
both its depiction of a dysfunctional
president and the decision by the writer
to remain anonymous.
“The coward who wrote this book
didn’t put their name on it because it is
nothing but lies,” White House Press
Secretary Stephanie Grisham said.
Many of the disclosures echo news
stories that have portrayed the presi-
dent as impulsive, sometimes unin-
formed and regularly willing to defy es-
tablished norms. There is already no
shortage of books by Trump critics, in-
cluding former FBI director James Co-
mey and others who have served in his
administration, that raise questions
about the president’s fitness for office.
But the New York Times op-ed in
2018 and the new book, being published
Tuesday by Twelve, have commanded
enormous attention because the author
had an inside view, often participating
in small White House meetings where
crucial decisions were made.
The author portrays himself or her-
self as sharing some policy views with
Trump and initially having a positive if
wary view of his presidency.
The author says the intended audi-
ence for “A Warning” isn’t those who
closely follow politics but rather those
who don’t, particularly voters from
across the country who were drawn in
2016 to Trump’s promise to shake up the
establishment.
Dropping Pence from the ticket?
The book says that Trump “on more
than one occasion” discussed with
staffers the possibility of dropping Vice
President Mike Pence before the 2020
election.
“Former UN ambassador Nikki Haley
was under active consideration to step
in as vice president, which she did not
discourage at first,” the author writes,
saying some advisers argued that put-
ting Haley on the ticket would help the
president bolster his support among
female voters.
In an interview Friday with USA
TODAY, Nikki Haley dismissed the sug-
gestion that she might replace Pence. In
her new book, “With All Due Respect,”
Haley offers a generally positive portrait
of Trump, and the president rewarded
her with a friendly tweet urging his mil-
lions of followers to buy a copy.
“Anonymous” depicts Trump as im-
patient, immoral, cruel, even dangerous
as he rejects the limits placed on presi-
dents by Congress and the courts.
As the 2018 midterm elections ap-
proached, the book says, the White
House counsel’s office began to develop
a “contingency plan” to shield the ad-
ministration if Democrats gained con-
trol of Congress, and with that the abil-
ity to launch inquiries and issue sub-
poenas. New lawyers were hired and
procedures revamped, the author says.A mission to obstruct, author says“The goal wasn’t just to prepare for a
barrage of legislative requests,” the book
says. “It was a concerted attempt to fend
off congressional oversight. When
Democrats finally took the House, the
unspoken administration policy toward
Capitol Hill became: Give as little as pos-
sible, wait as long as possible. Even
routine inquiries are now routed to the
lawyers, who have found unique ways to
say, “We can’t right now,” “Give us a few
months,” “We’re going to need to put you
on hold,” “Probably not,” “No,” and “Not a
chance in hell.”
The author says the administration’s
refusal to comply with congressional re-quests and even subpoenas “go be-
yond standard practice and have
turned into a full block-and-tackle ex-
ercise against congressional investi-
gators across an array of Trump ad-
ministration controversies.”
On the president’s actions with
Ukraine, now the heart of the im-
peachment inquiry, the author writes
that the idea Trump was trying to bat-
tle corruption abroad – rather than
gain some partisan political advantage
at home – was “barely believable to
anyone around him.”
But the book provides no significant
new information or insights into that
episode.‘Get Out of Jail Free’ cardsThe author’s agent, Matt Latimer,
said the author didn’t take an advance
payment for the book and plans to
donate a substantial amount of the
royalties to nonprofit organizations
that encourage government account-
ability and an independent press.
Among other allegations, the book
says:
zSeveral top advisers and Cabinet-
level officials last year discussed a
mass resignation, “a midnight self-
massacre,” intended to call attention
to what they saw as Trump’s question-
able and even corrupt behavior. “The
idea was abandoned out of fear that it
would make a bad situation worse.”
zIf a majority of the Cabinet called
for Trump’s removal under the rules of
the 25th Amendment, Pence would
have been willing to go along with
them. But the author provides no evi-
dence to back up that assertion, and
Pencehas strongly denied it.
zTrump told officials that, if they
took illegal actions on his behalf, he
would give them presidential pardons.
“To Donald Trump, these are unlimit-
ed ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ cards on a
Monopoly board.”Anonymous
Continued from Page 1A
‘Warning’ excerpts
USA TODAY has obtained a copy of “A
Warning,” a book written by a self-
described senior official in the Trump
administration. The author paints a
portrait of an administration in chaos.
The White House has denounced the
book as a work of fiction.Some key excerpts:Transition to the White House“Advisors brandished their knives,
back-stabbing each other to get the
jobs they wanted.
At the same time, a parade of job-
seekers made the pilgrimage to Trump
Tower in New York to pay homage to
the incoming commander in chief,
seeking a place on his short list. Most
had conveniently changed their minds
about the president-elect. Factions
formed. Conspiracies to undermine
potential candidates – while boosting
others – were hatched and dissolved,
sometimes in the same day.”On the courts“The president has proposed doing
away with judges on more than one
occasion. Too many of his policies are
getting stuck in legal limbo, he says.
‘Can we just get rid of the judges?
Let’s get rid of the f---ing judges,’
Trump fumed one morning. ‘There
shouldn’t be any at all, really.’”On shooting migrants“In fact, it was Trump himself the pre-
vious year who suggested shooting
immigrants found crossing the border.
Yes, shooting them, real human be-
ings, with bullets from guns held by
members of our armed forces.”WASHINGTON – President Donald
Trump and many of his Republican
supporters have demanded the name
of the whistleblower whose complaint
helped spark the impeachment inqui-
ry be publicly revealed, arguing the
president has a right to face his accus-
er.
Nearly half of Americans agree, ac-
cording to a poll from CBS News and
YouGov that was released Tuesday.
Forty-seven percent say any whis-
tleblowers in the case should be
“forced to be made public,” and 53%
say they should be allowed to remain
anonymous.
Whistleblower advocates say iden-tifying the person could discourage oth-
er government officials from coming
forward with their concerns about po-
tential wrongdoing. Democrats have
said unmasking the whistleblower
could put the person in danger without
adding any value to the proceedings be-
cause many of the allegations in the
complaint have been corroborated by
other witnesses.
The whistleblower’s complaint
shared concerns from other officials
that Trump acted improperly by using
military aid as leverage to pressure Uk-
raine into conducting investigations
that would benefit him politically.
Trump denied any wrongdoing, insist-
ing that the aid was not tied to the in-
vestigations and that he only asked Uk-
raine to address corruption.
According to Tuesday’s poll, 26%
agree that Trump’s actions regarding
Ukraine were proper, and 31% say they
were improper but legal. Forty-threepercent say what the president did was
illegal.
Trump and his supporters have ac-
cused congressional Democrats of coor-
dinating with the whistleblower to
smear the president.
When asked what they think moti-
vated the whistleblower, 39% in the
CBS-YouGov poll say the person wanted
to damage Trump politically, and 37%
say it was to protect U.S. interests.
Twenty-three percent say they plan to
wait for more evidence before drawing a
conclusion.
Open hearings in the impeachment
inquiry are to begin Wednesday.
Overall, 46% say Trump is doing a
good job as president, and 54% say he is
doing a bad job. Fifty-five percent say
they are optimistic about the upcoming
year, and 60% indicate they are happy
with the country’s economic outlook.
The poll was conducted Nov. 9-11 with a
margin of error of plus or minus 1.9%.Americans divided on whistleblowerNearly half in poll wantcomplainant identifiedWilliam Cummings
USA TODAYinvestigation and the withholding of
aid.
“I and the others on the call sat in
astonishment,” Taylor said of a call
July 18 when the pause in military aid
was announced. “The Ukrainians were
fighting the Russians and counted on
not only the training and weapons but
also the assurance of U.S. support.”
Taylor called the trade-off of an in-
vestigation for military aid “crazy” in a
Sept. 9 text to Gordon Sondland, the
U.S. ambassador to the European
Union. Taylor threatened to quit if the
U.S. States wouldn’t strongly support
Ukraine against Russian aggression.
Kent, deputy assistant secretary of
state for European and Eurasian af-
fairs, described Giuliani’s role in
guiding the policy and driving criti-
cism of the U.S. ambassador to Uk-
raine, Yovanovitch.
Kent described how a “campaign of
slander” unfolded against Yovano-
vitchby Giuliani from March 20 to 23
through television appearances,
newspaper articles and Giuliani’s
Twitter feed.
“It was, if not entirely made up in
full cloth, it was primarily nontruths
and non sequiturs,” Kent said.
During Wednesday’s hearing,
Trump will meet with Turkish Presi-
dent Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkey is
akey NATO ally. The visit comes a
month after Trump announced the
withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria,
which allowed Turkish troops to at-
tack Kurds who helped U.S. troops
fight the Islamic State.
Trump was severely criticized for
the move as opponents and some sup-
porters accused him of abandoning a
U.S. ally and creating chaos in the re-
gion. Trump briefly imposed sanctions
on Turkey for the attacks but lifted
them after a temporary cease-fire.
Trump plans to travel Thursday to
Bossier City, Louisiana, for his third
visit in a month to try to help Repub-
licans win the governor’s race. Trump
will rally support for Eddie Risponein
his bid to unseat Democratic Gov. John
Bel Edwards.
Yovanovitch, a career foreign ser-
vice officer, said she was told April 25
she had to “be on the next plane home
to Washington,” a departure so abrupt
she worried about having time to pack.
She asked for support against the
attacks on her in conservative media,
but none was forthcoming from the
State Department. She said Sondland
suggested she support Trump on Twit-
ter, advice she ignored.
Impeachment
Continued from Page 1A
Two months after he entered the
race, former South Carolina Gov. Mark
Sanfordhas ended his long-shot bid
for president.
Sanford, a Trump critic, failed to
catch traction in the Republican pri-
mary, where President Donald Trump
remains popular.
“It was a long shot, but we wanted
to try and interject this issue, how
much we’re spending, into the nation-
al debate which comes along once ev-
ery four years,” he said Tuesday in New
Hampshireoutside the statehouse. “I
don’t think on the Republican side
there’s any appetite for a serious nu-
anced debate with impeachment in
the air.”
Sanford had run a campaign based
on settling the national debt, and had
told the Greenville News, part of the
USA TODAY Network, his entry into
the race was not about settling a score
with the president.
“This isn’t about weakening the
president or electing Democrats,” San-
ford said when he entered the race at
the beginning of September. “In politi-
cal movements, people circle the wag-ons. That’s never been my personal
style of politics.”
Sanford called the national debt a
concern “at the core of my being.” He
found his conservativism at odds with
Trump and became a vocal critic of
Trump during his time as a congress-
man.
Trump backed Sanford’s primary
challenger in 2018, causing Sanford tolose his seat in the U.S. House.
“Mark Sanford has been very unhelp-
ful to me in my campaign to MAGA. He
is MIA and nothing but trouble. He is
better off in Argentina,” Trump wrote on
Twitter the day South Carolinians went
to the polls, making a reference to San-
ford’s notorious extramarital affair
while governor.
Sanford had faced calls for his own
impeachment as governor in 2009 after
he disappeared for a week to engage in
an affair in Argentina while telling his
staff he was hiking the Appalachian
Trail.
The two other major Republican can-
didates running against Trump, former
Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld and for-
mer Rep. Joe Walsh, have struggled to
break through with Republican voters.
A USA TODAY/Suffolk poll from the
beginning of November showed Trump
at 85% among Republicans, Weld at 2%,
and Sanford and Walsh at 1%.
Several state Republican parties also
have canceled their primaries, making it
even harder for a Republican to compete
with Trump.Contributing: Christal Hayes and
Kirk Brown, USA TODAY; The Associated
PressSanford ends his bid for GOPnomination in presidential raceMark Sanford is a Trump critic.
EVAN AGOSTINI/INVISION/APNicholas Wu
USA TODAY