"Fire and Fury" author Michael Wolff Saturday accused CNN's Michael Smerconish of "doing the work of the White House" when he was pressed on the methods he used for writing his bestseller.
"You're doing the work of the White House to discredit this book," Wolff told Smerconish during the contentious interview, reports USA Today. "The White House wants to discredit this book."
Smerconish, meanwhile told Wolff, who has claimed to gather much of his information through sitting at a sofa in the White House's West Wing, that his methods beg "interesting questions as to what grounds you were able to pull up that sofa in the West Wing."
Wolff also took issue when Smerconish cited an email Wolff purportedly wrote about gaining access to Trump.
"'What I'm really after is not so much a policy position interview with the president but an opportunity to humanize him,'" Smerconish cited from the email. "'I think you know that I like him, and I believe I can show him in a way that might actually change perceptions of him.'"
Wolff then accused White House Communications Director Hope Hicks of leaking the emails he had sent, calling the White House "totally incompetent" through its "concerted attack" on his book.
He also defended to Smerconish how he got White House insiders to talk to him.
"It was, 'open your kimono. Let me see. I'm willing to write any story here,'" he said.
Smerconish, though argued about Wolff's approach.
"When I write emails seeking interviews, my word choice is to say, 'I will treat the individual with dignity and respect.' I never go so far as to say, 'Let me humanize. You know I like the person.'"
Wolff ended the interview by telling Smerconish to "Read my book. That's all I have. That is my final word."
"I just find it unusual you get the final word," Smerconish said. "You can both enjoy the book and question some of its content."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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