Biden slowly adjusted to ‘cold’ White House, new book says

Russian President Vladimir Putin complained to President Joe Biden for calling him a “killer” in an interview with ABC News, according to a new book.

“I’m upset that you called me a killer,” Putin told Biden in an April 13 phone call Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Robert Costa wrote in their new book, “Peril “.

Biden told Putin that his comment, made in a March 16 interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, was “not something premeditated,” according to the book.

“I was asked a question. I gave an answer. It was an interview on a totally different subject,” Biden said, before inviting Putin to meet him in person.

Stephanopoulos interviewed Woodward and Costa Monday on “Good Morning America,” in their first book content interview.

The book, obtained by ABC News ahead of its Sept. 21 release, chronicles the 2020 presidential election and the chaos of the Trump administration’s final months – before and after the Jan.6 riot on Capitol Hill – based on More of 200 interviews. with first-hand witnesses and participants.

“Peril” also chronicles the first months of Biden’s presidency, detailing his administration’s efforts to respond to the coronavirus pandemic, early efforts to work with Congress, and internal deliberations on the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

This includes how Biden apparently adjusted to life in the White House, which he allegedly called “the grave” and compared to the Waldorf Astoria hotel.

“It was lonely. Cold. The virus made social events impossible, at least initially,” Woodward and Costa wrote, adding that Biden preferred “to chill out with the grandchildren in Delaware.”

“Being upstairs in the White House is like staying at someone else’s house,” White House chief of staff Ron Klain told the others, according to the book.

The book also describes how Biden and his associates allegedly referred to Trump in private: the president and his advisers “hated saying Trump’s name,” and the aides avoided using the “T-word,” the officials claim. authors.

“Trump’s existence permeated the White House, even the residence. One night, Biden wandered into a room where a huge video screen covered the wall. To relax, Trump used to download programs to play virtually. on the world’s most famous golf courses, ”they wrote. . “‘What a f —— a ——‘, Biden once said as he inspected the former president’s toys.”

Biden’s aides “noticed that he could be thorny and tough at times and walked into the Oval Office unhappy some mornings with another round of Trump talk at the MSNBC Experts Roundtable,” Morning Joe “” Woodward and Costa wrote in the book.

Woodward and Costa claimed Biden’s aides worked to keep him away from “unscripted events or lengthy interviews” to avoid blunders, a “Presidential cocooning” known as the “wall,” they wrote. .

On Afghanistan, Biden ultimately rescinded Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in his decision to withdraw US troops, after the two secretaries suggested a phased withdrawal in an attempt to encourage a settlement. politics with the Taliban, according to “Peril”.

“Our mission is to prevent Afghanistan from being a base for attacking the homeland and the allies of the United States by al-Qaeda or other terrorist groups, not to deal a fatal blow to the Taliban,” said Biden at a National Security Council meeting, according to the book. .

Biden “said he didn’t know what was to come next. The outcome was not clear, he admitted,” they said in the book.