Bob Woodward: Ex-Trump Lawyer John Dowd Told President He's 'Disabled’ and 'Can't Tell the Truth'

Donald Trump‘s former lawyer, John Dowd, told the president he couldn’t testify in the Russia investigation because he’s “disabled” and “can’t tell the truth,” investigative journalist Bob Woodward said during an interview on The Late Show Monday night.

The detail stems from a scene in the last page in Woodward’s book, Fear: Trump in the White House, out Tuesday, which describes Dowd and Trump rehearsing a potential meeting with special counsel Robert Mueller.

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“Right at the end, after they practiced a session…Trump goes ballistic, makes things up, starts screaming,” Woodward told host Stephen Colbert. “Dowd thought, had he been Mueller, he would have been fired right on the spot.”

After the roleplay, Woodward says Dowd told the president, “You cannot testify, you are disabled.

“Imagine your lawyer telling you, ‘You’re disabled, and you can’t testify because you can’t tell the truth,’ ” he added.

Colbert then revealed the last line of the book, which reads: “Dowd knew he couldn’t bring himself to say to the president, ‘You’re a f–king liar.’ ”

“That’s how you end the book!” Colbert says. “I think you buried the lede.”

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White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders released a statement earlier this month denying the claims made in Woodward’s book.

“This book is nothing more than fabricated stories, many by former disgruntled employees, told to make the President look bad,” reads the statement. “While it is not always pretty, and rare that the press actually covers it, President Trump has broken through the bureaucratic process to deliver unprecedented successes for the American people.”

Trump has said that “the book means nothing” and that Woodward “likes to get publicity, sell some books.”

Last week, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that he is willing to testify to Mueller but only “under certain circumstances.”