January 06, 2018
President Donald Trump slammed reports questioning his mental stability in a series of tweets Saturday morning, writing he's a "very stable genius."
"Now that Russian collusion, after one year of intense study, has proven to be a total hoax on the American public, the Democrats and their lapdogs, the Fake News Mainstream Media, are taking out the old Ronald Reagan playbook and screaming mental stability and intelligence ... " Trump wrote.
"Actually, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart," the President continued. "Crooked Hillary Clinton also played these cards very hard and, as everyone knows, went down in flames. I went from VERY successful businessman, to top T.V. Star ... to President of the United States (on my first try). I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius ... and a very stable genius at that!"
The remarkable spectacle of Trump defending his mental stability comes after the President and some of his top officials spent the last few days countering claims in author Michael Wolff's explosive new book, "Fire and Fury," about Trump's mental fitness to serve as President. The book also paints the picture of a President who neither knows nor cares about policy and doesn't seem to perceive the vast responsibilities of his role.
CNN has not independently confirmed all of Wolff's assertions.
The White House has taken issue with the claims in the book since excerpts of it began to surface online ahead of its publication, with press secretary Sarah Sanders calling it "complete fantasy" and an attorney for Trump sending a "cease and desist" threat to the book's author and publisher.
Trump issued a scathing statement on his former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, saying he had "lost his mind" after the book quoted Bannon making negative remarks about Trump and son Donald Trump Jr.
The book quoted Bannon as calling a June 2016 meeting between a Russian lawyer and the President's eldest son, son-in-law Jared Kushner and then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort "treasonous" and "unpatriotic."
Bannon also reportedly told Wolff: "They're going to crack Don Junior like an egg on national TV."
Trump lit into Bannon in a tweet Friday night, saying he "cried when he got fired and begged for his job."
"Michael Wolff is a total loser who made up stories in order to sell this really boring and untruthful book," Trump wrote. "He used Sloppy Steve Bannon, who cried when he got fired and begged for his job. Now Sloppy Steve has been dumped like a dog by almost everyone. Too bad!"
Wolff reiterated his belief that it is becoming a widespread view that Trump is unfit for presidency, telling BBC Radio in an interview overnight that it's a "very clear emperor-has-no-clothes effect."
"The story that I have told seems to present this presidency in such a way that it says he can't do his job," Wolff said in the interview. "Suddenly everywhere people are going, 'Oh my God, it's true, he has no clothes.' That's the background to the perception and the understanding that will finally end ... this presidency."
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told CNN in an exclusive interview on Friday he's never questioned Trump's mental fitness, despite reports he once called Trump a "moron."
"I've never questioned his mental fitness," Tillerson told CNN's Elise Labott. "I have no reason to question his mental fitness."