KEY POINTS

  • Wolff's expose of White House in chaos still US bestseller.
  • Author says he lacked crucial "blue dress" to confirm his claims.

Donald Trump is having an affair inside the White House, according to Michael Wolff, the author of the controversial book Fire and Fury which claims to lift the lid on the presidency.

Television hosts have tried to elicit more details from Wolff about the affair after he told readers of Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House to "read between the lines".

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It is not known whether Wolff is simply trying to maintain the book's popularity, which has been the top selling book in the US for the past three weeks, or if he actually has genuine knowledge of a presidential affair in the West Wing.

He told TV presenter Bill Maher on Friday (19January) that Trump was having an affair "right now" but claimed he lacked the crucial piece of evidence to prove it.

Wolff said: "I can't tell you what it is. There was something in the book I was absolutely sure of but it was so incendiary that I just didn't have the ultimate proof."

Maher asked him, "Is it a woman thing?"

Wolff replied that he "didn't have the blue dress", a reference to the clothing that helped prove claims that former president Bill Clinton had an affair with intern Monica Lewinsky in the 1990s, a scandal that almost broke his presidency.

Questioned by Maher further, Wolff said it was "somebody he's f*****g now".

Treasonous

Debate has been rife over the validity of some of the claims in Wolff's book including the allegation that former strategist Steve Bannon accused Donald Trump Jr of acting in a "treasonous" way by meeting a delegation of Russian businessmen in Trump Tower.

Bannon, who was once one of the most influential figures inside the White House, has seen supporters flee in the wake of that claim. Trump himself described his erstwhile friend as "Sloppy Steve" after the allegations.

Bannon had already been fired by Trump for unspecified reasons. He left the White House in August 2017 and returned to his right-wing website, Breitbart.

Earlier this month he stepped down from his role at the website.

Wolff's book also suggests that Trump's daughter, Ivanka, has worked on a plan with her husband Jared Kushner to become the first woman president.

She was also cited as being someone who mocked Trump's infamous combover hairstyle.

fire and fury
Hackers are looking to tap into the hype surrounding Fire and Fury by lacing pirated versions with malware REUTERS/Phil Noble
Donald Trump