White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders disputed a portion of the book that outlines expectations from the top of Donald Trump’s campaign, including campaign manager Kellyanne Conway and Trump himself, that he would not win the 2016 election. | Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo White House dismisses Wolff book as 'some trash'

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Thursday that a forthcoming book containing scathing criticism of the president and his administration from team members and allies was filled with “mistake after mistake after mistake.”

Sanders told reporters at Thursday’s press briefing that Americans “probably could care less about a book full of lying and would really like to hear about” issues on which the administration has claimed victories, including combating terrorism and the economy.


“I don't think they really care about some trash that an author that no one had ever heard of until today or a fired employee wants to peddle,” she said.

Excerpts published this week from Michael Wolff’s forthcoming book, “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House,” have proven incendiary, including depictions of the president by his own staff members as ignorant, narcissistic, inept and “like a child.” Particularly controversial have been remarks from former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon calling a meeting between Trump campaign officials and a Russian attorney promising incriminating information on Hillary Clinton “treasonous” and “unpatriotic.”

Trump responded on Wednesday with a scorching rebuke of Bannon, characterizing him as a self-promoter who “lost his mind” when he was ousted from the White House. Bannon, who has not denied making the comments, has spoken warmly of the president in the wake of Trump’s statement, calling him a “great man.”

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Others, including former deputy chief of staff Katie Walsh, have denied making statements attributed to them in the book, and Sanders on Thursday characterized the book as “complete fantasy and just full of tabloid gossip.”

Asked to offer examples of falsehoods in the book, Sanders pointed to one excerpt listing White House communications director Hope Hicks’s age as 26 — she is 29 — and another in which Wolff wrote that Trump responded “who?” when former Fox News chief Roger Ailes suggested John Boehner for the job of White House chief of staff.

“I'll give you one, just because it’s really easy: The fact that there was a claim that the president didn’t know who John Boehner was is pretty ridiculous, considering the majority of you have seen photos,” Sanders said. “Frankly, several of you have even tweeted out that the president not only knows him but has played golf with him, tweeted about him. I mean, that’s pretty simple and pretty basic.”

At Wednesday’s press briefing, Sanders told reporters that 95 percent of the interviews for Wolff’s book were conducted at the request of Bannon and that the author had spoken only briefly with the president during his time in the West Wing. On Thursday, the press secretary said the White House had denied “probably more than 30” requests from Wolff, including at least 24 requests from him to interview Trump.

Sanders also disputed a portion of the book that outlines expectations from the top of Trump’s campaign, including campaign manager Kellyanne Conway and Trump himself, that he would not win the 2016 election. The press secretary called it “one of the most ridiculous things” from the book.

“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,” Sanders 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.”