President Trump reportedly regretted condemning white supremacists after last year’s deadly Charlottesville rally, saying it was the “biggest f—king mistake” he ever made, according to an excerpt from Bob Woodward’s new book published by The Washington Post on Tuesday.
Trump sparked outrage in 2017, when he refused to blame white nationalists and neo-Nazis for bloodshed at the rally, which claimed the life of a counter-protester.
Read More: Spike Lee Blasts ‘Motherf—er’ Donald Trump for Not Denouncing KKK
After initially saying there “were very fine people on both sides” of the protest, Trump later condemned the hate groups at the urging of his advisers, according to Woodward.
“That was the biggest f—ing mistake I’ve made,” Trump almost immediately told aides after denouncing the white supremacists.
He also called it the “worst speech I’ve ever given,” according to Woodward, a veteran Washington journalist known for his reporting on the Watergate scandal.
Woodward’s upcoming book, Fear: Trump in the White House, is based on hundreds of hours of interviews with administration officials and others close to the president.
Read More: Trump Blasts ‘Lowlife’ Omarosa After She Calls Him a ‘Racist’
Among other bombshells in the book, White House Chief of staff John Kelly described Trump as an “idiot” and “unhinged.” Trump’s former personal attorney John Dowd called him “a f—king liar,” and Defense Secretary James Mattis described Trump as having the understanding of “a fifth or sixth grader.”
The book will be released on Sept. 11.
This latest account of Trump’s presidency comes after last month’s release of Omarosa Manigault-Newman’s book, Unhinged: An Insider’s Account of the Trump White House.
