Donald Trump ‘became obsessed with bombing Mexican drug labs’

Angela Merkel and Theresa May are also referenced by the former POTUS in Confidence Man book by New York Times journalist
Donald Trump’s presidency was persistently mired in scandal
Scott Olson/Getty
William Mata28 September 2022

Donald Trump considered bombing Mexican drug labs while he was US president, a new tell-all memoir has disclosed.

New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman writes in Confidence Man, which is released on Thursday, that a mistaken identity may have caused confusion around the issue.

“He raised it several times, eventually asking a stunned Defense (sic) Secretary Mark Esper whether the United States could indeed bomb the labs,” she wrote.

Mr Trump’s line of questioning followed Brett Giroir, assistant secretary for health, telling the president that Mexican labs should be stopped in supplying drugs into the US by putting “lead to target”.

President Donald Trump meets German Chancellor Angela Merkel on a trip to Europe
AP

Mr Giroir had no authority over mobilising of weaponry but the account implies that Mr Trump may have mistaken him for a defence expert because of the health secretary’s dress uniform.

“The response from White House aides was not to try to change Trump’s view, but to consider asking Giroir not to wear his uniform to the Oval Office anymore,” Ms Haberman wrote.

Over 607 pages, Confidence Man lifts the lid on the Trump administration from the accounts of aides and White House insiders. Ms Haberman also interviewed Mr Trump on several occasions.

Other nuggets of gossip include that a Republican congresswoman once received a phone call from someone asking questions, claiming to be from the Washington Post who sounded “a lot like” the 45th president over the line.

Mr Trump also allegedly made vulgar comments about rape in conversation with former prime minister Theresa May and sometimes joked with advisors about how he longed for the demise or even death of German chancellor Angela Merkel.

The book concludes with a typed question and answer list with Mr Trump, who answered in entirely capital letters with his and the book’s parting words being: “FAKE NEWS - GOODNIGHT.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in