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Book claims Trump called Modi as ‘friend’, Trump says, “I don’t talk the way I am quoted”
Renowned journalist Bob Woodward in his new book titled, “Fear: Trump in the White House” had quoted U.S President Donald Trump calling Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi as his friend who had told him that the U.S hadn’t gotten anything out of Afghanistan, PTI reported. The book has shown the Trump administration to be ‘dysfunctional’.
“Prime Minister Modi of India is a friend of mine, he (Trump) said. I like him very much,” Trump is quoted in the book. In reply, Trump stated, “The Woodward book is a scam. I don’t talk the way I am quoted. If I did I would not have been elected President. These quotes were made up. The author uses every trick in the book to demean and belittle. I wish the people could see the real facts – and our country is doing GREAT!”
The Woodward book is a scam. I don’t talk the way I am quoted. If I did I would not have been elected President. These quotes were made up. The author uses every trick in the book to demean and belittle. I wish the people could see the real facts – and our country is doing GREAT!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 7, 2018
The book has been called ‘reckless’ by the White House and a ‘joke’ by Trump as it portrays the President to be ‘chaotic’, ‘mercurial’ and ‘uninformed’. Woodward states in the book that Trump had made the concerned comment during a Situation Room meeting in the White House on July 19 last year, nearly three weeks after he had a very successful meeting with Modi at the White House on June 26.
“He (Modi) told me the US has gotten nothing out of Afghanistan. Nothing. Afghanistan has massive mineral wealth. We don’t take it like others – like China,” Trump is quoted as saying during the July 19 situation room meeting. “The US needed to get some of Afghanistan’s valuable minerals in exchange for any support. I’m not making a deal on anything until we get minerals. And the US ‘must stop payments to Pakistan until they cooperate’,” Trump said.
According to the book, Trump told his national security aide that US is losing in Afghanistan. “We’re losing big in Afghanistan. It’s a disaster. Our allies aren’t helping. Ghost soldiers – those paid but not serving – are ripping us off. NATO is a disaster and a waste, he said. The soldiers had told him that NATO staff were totally dysfunctional,” the book says.
“Pakistan isn’t helping us. They’re not really a friend,” despite the $1.3 billion a year in aid the US gave them, Trump is quoted as saying by the author. Woodward also writes that Trump refused to send any additional aid. The Afghan leaders were corrupt and making money off the US, he writes.
Earlier, Trump at a Joint Fundraising Committee Reception in South Dakota, said that India had called and expressed its desire for a trade deal and had said, “Practically, every time a foreign leader comes in to see me, whether it’s Abe of Japan, whether it’s Modi of India, I’ve become friends with all of them.”
