AP Photo/Matt Rourke
Donald Trump listens to his mobile phone during a lunch stop in South Carolina.
- Bob Woodward, the author of "Fear: Trump in the White House," said he recorded "almost all" of the interviews with his sources.
- President Donald Trump has sought to discredit Woodward and many of the bombshell claims he wrote in the book, but the author and veteran journalist said he had "boxes of recordings and documents" to back up the accounts.
- Woodward described his process for getting current and former officials to divulge details of their experiences in the Trump administration: "A couple of times people would say 'I wanna go off the record,'" Woodward said. "And I said 'no.'"
Bob Woodward, author of the recent White House tell-all that has topped best-seller charts, said he recorded "almost all" of the interviews with current and former officials for his book, "Fear: Trump in the White House."
Woodward recounted some of the evidence he had for his sources in the book, which provided an unflattering behind-the-scenes look at the Trump administration during its critical moments.
"The deal was I would interview somebody, they would be a confidential source," Woodward said during an interview with CNN host Anderson Cooper. "I know who they are, they're describing specific events."
"Often there are diaries, or notes, or documents supporting it," Woodward added.
Woodward described his process for getting current and former officials to divulge details of their experiences in the Trump administration: "A couple of times people would say 'I wanna go off the record,'" Woodward said. "And I said 'no.'"
"In every case, maybe except one, said 'ok, I'll tell you anyway on deep background.'"
Woodward's book follows a string of other best-selling accounts on the Trump administration. Like many of the other books, Trump took offense to "Fear" and sought to discredit it and its author.
"The Woodward book is a scam," Trump tweeted on Friday. "I don't talk the way I am quoted. If I did I would not have been elected President. These quotes were made up. The author uses every trick in the book to demean and belittle."
But Woodward, a Washington Post journalist best known for his work uncovering the Watergate scandal, disputed Trump's allegations and said he has evidence to show he did indeed speak to current and former Trump administration officials for the book.
"When somebody looks at this in 20, or 30, or 40 years, boxes of recordings and documents, they will see that this was very carefully done," Woodward said. "I can argue with a straight face that an ardent Trump supporter would read this and have to pause. Because whether you like Trump or don't like Trump, it's a management issue."
Some of the claims in the book include Trump making pointed remarks, such as "mentally retarded" and "dumb Southerner. In one instance, Trump reportedly mocked Attorney General Jeff Sessions' southern twang behind his back.
"He couldn't even be a one-person country lawyer down in Alabama," Trump said, according to Woodward's book.