The many explosive claims in "Fire and Fury" have prompted a handful of current and former White House staffers to walk back comments attributed to them.
- Author and columnist Michael Wolff said he sympathizes with people he interviewed for an explosive new book on the Trump administration who are now mortified by the book's content.
- Some current and former White House officials interviewed by Wolff have denied some of the claims in the book that have been attributed to them.
- "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House" has dominated headlines all week with sensational anecdotes and commentary that paint the Trump presidency in an unflattering light.
Michael Wolff, the columnist and author who wrote the explosive inside look at the Trump presidency said he "sympathizes" with people he interviewed for the book who have since denied some claims attributed to them.
“When you write a book like this, people regret what they said to me,” Wolff said in an NPR interview that aired Friday.
“What they say to any reporter who they relax with and they forget who they’re talking to, I have sympathy for that, and I think the natural response is to say, ‘Oh my God, I didn’t say it.’ But I will tell you, they said it,” Wolff added.
There's a caveat in the opening of "Fire and Fury" in which Wolff warns that he isn't certain that all of its content is true.
The book, "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House" hit stores on Friday after dominating news headlines for much of the week. It makes a number of bombshell assertions, based on some 200 interviews Wolff said he conducted with White House staffers.
Some of those claims — a few of which were attributed to Trump's former chief strategist Steve Bannon — paint President Donald Trump, his adult children, and others in an unflattering light. Those claims prompted fierce rebukes from Trump himself and the White House.