A new book alleges that former President Donald Trump said that whoever leaked the fact that he and his family retreated to the White House bunker during George Floyd protests should be “charged with treason” and “executed.”
“Frankly, We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost” by Wall Street Journal White House reporter Michael Bender details that Trump "boiled over about the bunker story as soon as they arrived and shouted at them to smoke out whoever had leaked it,” according to CNN.
"It was the most upset some aides had ever seen the president," CNN quotes the book as stating. "'Whoever did that, they should be charged with treason!' Trump yelled. 'They should be executed!'"
The book recounts that Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, attempted to calm down the president while other aides attempted not to make eye contact with him, according to CNN.
Allegedly in the next few days, Trump became obsessed with uncovering the leaker, and those around him saw his behavior as that of a “president in panic.”
When asked about the bunker visit in June 2020, Trump told Fox News Radio host Brian Kilmeade that his visit to the bunker had not been about the large protests near the White House but rather a routine inspection, and that it had been during the day and not at night.
"I was there for a tiny, short little period of time. They said it would be a good time to go down and take a look because maybe sometime you're going to need it,” Trump said.
He added he’d been in the bunker “two and a half times” for inspection-related purposes.
In the book, Trump is also quoted as having allegedly praised Hitler’s handling of the German economy, a statement which disturbed White House Chief of Staff John Kelly.