A new book on the early days of the Trump white house by Michael Wolff includes an alleged dialogue between former Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes and the president which is almost certainly false.
“You need a son of a [b****] as your chief of staff,” former Fox News chairman Roger Ailes told Trump, according to Wolff. Wolff’s account continues:
“And you need a son of a bitch who knows Washington. You’ll want to be your own son of a bitch, but you don’t know Washington.” Ailes had a suggestion: John Boehner, who had stepped down as Speaker of the House only a year earlier.
The assertion, which was quickly circulated by journalists on twitter, is almost certainly false. President Donald Trump has tweeted about the former House speaker 7 times since July 28, 2011 referencing ongoing political events, a quick Daily Caller review finds.
I’m not buying that @realDonaldTrump didn’t know who Boehner was. @DonaldJTrumpJr says they spent time together b4 election and he has tweeted about him 7 times in the last 6 years. pic.twitter.com/tDe9TaBaon
— Saagar Enjeti (@esaagar) January 3, 2018
Trump and Boehner also golfed together in August 2013 at one of the president’s own golf courses, as detailed by Politico. The story also details how Trump cut a $100,000 dollar check to a Boehner aligned super-pac at the time. David Farenthold of the Washington Post also noted Wednesday that Trump’s charitable foundation gave 5,000 to Boehner’s hometown charity.
Trump had actually played golf with Boehner before. Trump foundation gave $5K to Boehner’s hometown charity afterward, in 2013. https://t.co/UIyOe4VJQ8
— David Fahrenthold (@Fahrenthold) January 3, 2018
David Harsyani, an editor at the Federalist, also said on twitter that he interviewed Trump in January 2013 and he “knew exactly who Boehner was.”
I interviewed Trump in Jan 2013 about the debt ceiling and he knew exactly who John Boehner was. https://t.co/L825ECTqp0
— David Harsanyi (@davidharsanyi) January 3, 2018
Boehner even told a Stanford audience in April 2016 that he and Trump was his “golfing and texting buddy.”
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