White House exposé publishes early amid complaints

WASHINGTON—A book on the inner workings of President Donald Trump’s White House came out Friday instead of next week amid pressure from the administration to stop its publication. Trump’s lawyers sent a cease-and-desist letter Thursday to prevent Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury from reaching store shelves while challenging the veracity of Wolff’s work. In response, Wolff and his publisher, Henry Holt, decided to release the book four days early. Several media outlets published excerpts from the book earlier this week, passages that described an incompetent and chaotic White House. Wolff claims he had unprecedented access to the West Wing during Trump’s first year in office and stands by reporting that claims the president often has lapses in memory, does not understand public policy, and is mentally unstable. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders did not deny Wolff had access early last year but dismissed the reporting as “complete fantasy and just full of tabloid gossip.” In a tweet Thursday night, Trump weighed in: “I never spoke to him for book. Full of lies, misrepresentations and sources that don’t exist.” In an interview on NBC’s Today show, Wolff said he stands behind everything written in the book, claiming he has recordings and notes to verify accounts: “My credibility is being questioned by a man who has less credibility than perhaps anyone who has ever walked on Earth at this point.”