President Trump tore into then-campaign manager Paul Manafort over a report that campaign aides did TV interviews to get his attention, according to a new book released Tuesday.
“Devil’s Bargain” by Bloomberg’s Joshua Green details Trump’s “last straw” before firing Manafort last summer, after a New York Times story suggested that campaign aides did TV interviews to get their boss’s attention.
Trump was furious about the report, the Daily Mail reported in a preview of the book.
{mosads}”You think you’ve gotta go on TV to talk to me? You treat me like a baby!” Trump said.
“Am I like a baby to you? I sit there like a little baby and watch TV and you talk to me? Am I a f–king baby, Paul?”
The next day, the Times reported that Manafort had been paid $12.7 million by pro-Russia officials from Ukraine — a fact he didn’t tell Trump or even his family members, according to the book.
White House adviser and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner allegedly delivered the “kill shot” to Manafort when he got back from vacation and asked him to step down after hearing about the recent news.
Manafort reportedly pushed back on his demands, and Kushner revealed that there was a press release set to go out at 9 a.m. announcing that Manafort was resigning.
“At this Kushner’s demeanor hardened and he glanced at his watch. ‘We’re putting out a press release at 9 am that says you’ve resigned. That’s in 30 seconds,’ ” the book reads.
Manafort resigned on August 19, two days after the Trump campaign brought in Stephen Bannon and Kellyanne Conway to head the campaign.