A new book from two New York Times reporters has exposed a number of President Donald Trump’s secrets, though one claim in particular has the president especially enraged, a senior Trump official revealed Friday.
Published earlier this week, “Regime Change” was written by Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, and had already rattled the White House before its release, with officials fearful that the book’s authors had acquired audio recordings from within the White House Situation Room, arguably the most secure area of the complex where top officials discuss matters of crises and national security.
“There’s something in the book that hasn’t gotten nearly the level of attention of the aforementioned scoops… and yet it’s something that, according to sources familiar with the matter, has privately and absolutely infuriated the president and helped contribute to his decision to impose an intra-administration blackout on publicly talking about the book,” Zeteo reported Friday.
The claim in question is centered around Trump’s bathroom and bedroom habits, namely his preference for having a carpeted bathroom, which reportedly has sparked fear among White House staff of mold growth.
“It makes him look so f------ gross,” a senior Trump appointee told Zeteo, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “The president sees everything, and he knows about the trash and bathroom sections, and thinks it’s complete bulls--- that it got published.”
According to those familiar with the matter who spoke with Zeteo, Trump, who Zeteo’s Asawin Suebsaeng described as “perennially image-conscious and self-obsessed,” was “complaining to aides and other longtime advisers about the book’s descriptions of his bathroom and bedroom habits.”
“If you think this all sounds weird as hell or disgusting, you’d be right,” Suebsaeng wrote. “That’s why the 80-year-old president is so sensitive about it, petty and small as that sounds.”