[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-38056-en":3,"doc-seo-38056-105":30,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":91},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":21,"is_downloadable":21,"audit_status":21,"page_count":22,"language":23,"language_code":24,"site_id":25,"html_lang":24,"table_of_contents":26,"faqs":27,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":28,"read_time":29},38056,1374391974585,"Genevieve","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c",2,"Literature","War","The text records an author’s prologue to a journalistic narrative about early encounters that shaped later understanding of Donald Trump. It recounts a February 1989 dinner-party meeting with Carl Bernstein, the prospect of an interview at Trump Tower, and the discovery decades later of a “lost interview” envelope. The interview depicts Trump at age 42 focused on real estate, money, and celebrity, while expressing uncertainty about his future and the inevitability that “the world changes.”","For my lifelong friend and reporting partner Carl Bernstein  \n“Mechanical and scientific creations of modern man tend to conceal from him the nature of his own humanity and to encourage him in all sorts of Promethean ambitions and illusions.”  \nGeorge Kennan, American diplomat and the father of the policy of containment theory that the U.S. firmly block the expansion of the Soviet Union  \nAuthor’s Personal Note  \n“I’m going to keep going,” Claire McMullen, my remarkable full-time assistant on this book, tells me all the time. Going to keep going is her motto.  \nA brilliant, gifted writer and lawyer from Australia, Claire, 30, made this book possible. Without her, there would be no book. Period. She is a genius. Always good-natured and joyful, Claire is also tough. She challenges me to pursue the hard stories, confirmation and evidence. Her push is kind but never-ending. She regularly reminds me of the new reporting paths that must be explored. She may understand these wars in Ukraine and the Middle East better and more than I do. She knows our files, the public record, and is always connecting them. When my energy stalls out, she shows up early, stays late and comes in weekends. She is always thinking. Never stumped. Claire manages the hundreds of files and interview transcripts which she makes personally with marathon speed and accuracy.  \nI many times think, Why am I not more like her? The honest answer is that thereis only one Claire McMullen. She will write her own books soon. Her contribution to this one cannot be overstated. With affection, friendship and overwhelming admiration.  \nPrologue  \nOne evening in February 1989, my Watergate reporting partner Carl Bernstein bumped into Donald Trump at a dinner party in New York City.  \n“Why don’t you come on up,” Carl urged me on the phone from the party, hosted by Ahmet Ertegun, the Turkish American socialite and record executive, in his Upper East Side townhouse.“Everybody’s having a good time,” he said.“Trump is here. It’s really interesting. I’ve been talking to him.”  \nBernstein was fascinated with Trump’s book, The Art of the Deal. Somewhat reluctantly I agreed to join him, in large part, as Carl often reminds me, because I needed the key to his apartment where I was staying at the time.  \n“I’ll be there soon,” I told him.  \nIt had been 17 years since Carl and I first collaborated on stories about the Watergate burglary, June 17, 1972.  \nTrump took a look at us standing together, then age 45, and he came over.“Wouldn’t it be amazing if Woodward & Bernstein interviewed Donald Trump?” he said.  \nCarl and I looked at each other.  \n“Sure,” Carl said.“How about tomorrow?”  \n“Yeah,” Trump said.“Come to my office at Trump Tower.”  \n“This guy is interesting,” Carl assured me after Trump was gone.  \n“But not in politics,” I said.  \nI was immediately intrigued by Trump, a hustler entrepreneur and his unique, carefully nurtured and cultivated persona, designed even then to manipulate others with precision and a touch of ruthlessness.  \nThe Trump interview, taped on a microcassette and transcribed with a typewriter, was deposited into a manila envelope with a copy of Trump’s book and eventually lost in piles and piles of records, interview notes and news clippings. I am a pack rat. For over thirty years, Carl and I looked for it.  \nI joked with President Trump about “the lost interview” when I interviewed him in the Oval Office in December 2019 for the second of my three books on his presidency, Rage.  \n“We sat at a table and we talked,” Trump recalled. “I remember it well.” He said I should try to find it because he believed it was a great interview.  \nLast year, 2023, I went to a facility where my records are stored and sifted through hundreds of boxes of old files. In a box of miscellaneous news clippings from the 1980s, I noticed a plain, slightly battered envelope—the interview.  \nIt’s a portrait of the young Trump at age 42, focused exclusively on his real estate deals, on maki","cbCaic9qcXNIdRME","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaic9qcXNIdRME","pdf",4859590,6,1,430,"English","en",105,"# Prologue\n## February 1989 dinner-party meeting\n## The lost interview discovery","[{\"question\":\"What event triggers the prologue in February 1989?\",\"answer\":\"Carl Bernstein meets Donald Trump at a New York City dinner party and urges Woodward to join him by phone, leading to plans for an interview.\"},{\"question\":\"Why was the Trump interview originally hard to find?\",\"answer\":\"It was recorded, transcribed, placed in a manila envelope with copies of Trump’s book, and later became lost among many records, notes, and clippings for years.\"},{\"question\":\"What does the found “lost interview” reveal about Trump at age 42?\",\"answer\":\"It focuses on his real estate deals, making money, and celebrity status, while showing he was unclear about his future and emphasized that “the world changes.”\"}]",1783057396,662,{"code":4,"msg":31,"data":32},"ok",{"site_id":25,"language":24,"slug":33,"title":13,"keywords":34,"description":14,"schema_data":35,"social_meta":86,"head_meta":88,"extra_data":90,"updated_unix":28},"war-ea4f751496f144579f301c106de6d8cb","",{"@graph":36,"@context":85},[37,53,68],{"@type":38,"itemListElement":39},"BreadcrumbList",[40,44,47,50],{"item":41,"name":42,"@type":43,"position":21},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":45,"name":46,"@type":43,"position":11},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",{"item":48,"name":12,"@type":43,"position":49},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literature/",3,{"item":51,"name":13,"@type":43,"position":52},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/war-ea4f751496f144579f301c106de6d8cb/38056/",4,{"url":51,"name":13,"@type":54,"author":55,"headline":13,"publisher":57,"fileFormat":60,"inLanguage":24,"description":14,"dateModified":61,"datePublished":62,"encodingFormat":60,"isAccessibleForFree":63,"interactionStatistic":64},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":56},"Person",{"url":41,"name":58,"@type":59},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-07-08","2026-07-03",true,{"@type":65,"interactionType":66,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":67},"ViewAction",{"@type":69,"mainEntity":70},"FAQPage",[71,77,81],{"name":72,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":74},"What event triggers the prologue in February 1989?","Question",{"text":75,"@type":76},"Carl Bernstein meets Donald Trump at a New York City dinner party and urges Woodward to join him by phone, leading to plans for an interview.","Answer",{"name":78,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":79},"Why was the Trump interview originally hard to find?",{"text":80,"@type":76},"It was recorded, transcribed, placed in a manila envelope with copies of Trump’s book, and later became lost among many records, notes, and clippings for years.",{"name":82,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":83},"What does the found “lost interview” reveal about Trump at age 42?",{"text":84,"@type":76},"It focuses on his real estate deals, making money, and celebrity status, while showing he was unclear about his future and emphasized that “the world changes.”","https://schema.org",{"og:url":51,"og:type":87,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":58,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":89,"canonical":51},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":25},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":92},[93,97,100,104,109,113,118,123,128,131,135],{"id":21,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":94,"show_sort_weight":95,"slug":96},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":98,"slug":99},80,"literature",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":101,"show_sort_weight":102,"slug":103},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":105,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":106,"show_sort_weight":107,"slug":108},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":20,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":110,"show_sort_weight":111,"slug":112},"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":114,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":115,"show_sort_weight":116,"slug":117},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":119,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":121,"slug":122},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":124,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":125,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":127},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":126,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":129,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":130},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":132,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":133,"show_sort_weight":132,"slug":134},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":136,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":137,"show_sort_weight":105,"slug":138},19,"General","general"]