Woodward talks interviewing Trump in the midst of impeachment
Investigative journalist Bob Woodward joins Yahoo News Editor in Chief Daniel Klaidman and Chief Investigative Correspondent Michael Isikoff to discuss his new book, “Rage.” Woodward recalls meeting with President Trump at Mar-a-Lago, Fla., while the Senate was debating articles of impeachment. According to Woodward, he confronted Trump about the transcript of his phone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, asking Zelensky to dig up dirt on Joe Biden and his son Hunter, but the president refused to admit to any wrongdoing.
Video Transcript
DANIEL KLAIDMAN: You know, one thing that struck me in the book was that Trump-- I think you used the word unfazed. You were interviewing him while impeachment was going on. You know, I think the House is-- was debating articles of impeachment while you were interviewing him. You say he's unfazed. He did seem unfazed. And at the end of the day, you know, that impeachment inquiry did not have a lot of impact on him. And the-- you know, the-- one Republican voted in the Senate for impeachment, Mitt Romney.
BOB WOODWARD: No, for--
DANIEL KLAIDMAN: So--
BOB WOODWARD: --removal from office.
DANIEL KLAIDMAN: For removal. For removal, yeah, for removal.
BOB WOODWARD: Yeah.
DANIEL KLAIDMAN: So help-- make the case that this kind of reporting today really still has an impact. What is that impact? How should people think about that?
BOB WOODWARD: Well, look at the impeachment case. I think the record shows that it was precipitous. They had something that Trump clearly had done. In fact, in the book, I spend 20 minutes down in Mar-a-Lago with Trump, interrogating him about the impeachment and what was in that transcript with the Ukrainian president. And Trump was in--
MICHAEL ISIKOFF: Which, by the way--
BOB WOODWARD: --complete denial.
MICHAEL ISIKOFF: --is the most fascinating-- that is the most fascinating exchange in the book, your repeated efforts to get him to acknowledge that he was wrong and should apologize, which he absolutely refused to do.
BOB WOODWARD: Well, not-- before apology, I just, I said, look at what the transcript shows. It shows that you asked that the president of Ukraine talk to the American attorney general and investigate the Bidens. And so I asked Trump, say, as a matter of policy, do you think it is an acceptable, desirable policy for the president of the United States to ask a foreign leader to investigate a political opponent? And Trump would just say-- stonewall, just say no, it's about corruption. And I'd say, no, right here in the transcript, it says Biden, a political appointed-- opponent of yours, you want investigation. And he stonewalled. And we're yelling at each other, quite frankly.
And what struck me is, instead of just throwing me, you know, out of Mar-a-Lago, he would let me go and go and go. And finally I say, well, OK, what about apologizing? And I recalled that Nixon did not apologize. And I've always thought, and I think Carl Bernstein, my partner in Watergate, agreed pretty much with this, if Nixon had come out early and said, look, I'm the guy at the top, this was a mistake, it shouldn't have happened, I'm really sorry, Watergate would have gone away. And--
MICHAEL ISIKOFF: Yeah, yes.
BOB WOODWARD: --I don't know that you guys agree with that, but I think--
DANIEL KLAIDMAN: I do.
BOB WOODWARD: --it's highly likely. So I was saying to Trump, you know, get-- go ask Ivanka, your daughter. Go for a walk with her and ask her. And he said, well, no matter what she said, it wouldn't make any difference.
