Controversial author Michael Wolff’s “Siege: Trump Under Fire” is under fire both for its sourcing and claims.
Controversial author Michael Wolff’s new book, "Siege: Trump Under Fire,” hit stores Tuesday under a barrage of criticism from both the left and right, and with little of the excitement generated by its predecessor.
"Siege” shares several similarities with "Fire and Fury,” Wolff's 2018 best-selling book about the first year of Trump's presidency, which came under fire both for its sourcing and claims. "Siege” picks up where “Fire and Fury” left off and is faced with similar questions about its accuracy.
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Last week, the office of Special Counsel Robert Mueller shot down Wolff’s "Siege” claim that Mueller drew up an obstruction of justice indictment against President Trump. But Mueller spokesman Peter Carr told Fox News that documents “do not exist” in a rare public statement.
While "Siege” and "Fire and Fury” have many issues in common, Wolff’s latest book isn't expected to match its precursor in the sale department. "Fire and Fury” sold 1.7 million copies in the first three weeks, according to the Evening Standard, and 4 million copies overall, according to Axios.
But “Siege” didn’t appear on Amazon’s list of Top 20 most-sold nonfiction books on the morning of its release. Among new releases, “Siege” even trails recent books by Howard Stern and Mark Levin despite the success of Wolff’s first anti-Trump book.
Variety published an article headlined, “Why Michael Wolff’s ‘Siege: Trump Under Fire’ Won’t Be Another ‘Fire and Fury,’” which details the “dishy tell-all that’s being attacked for spotty fact-checking and is already suffering from weaker pre-sales.”
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“Siege” has been slammed by critics on both sides of the political aisle. Even CNN political analyst Ryan Lizza condemned “Siege” in a scathing review published in the Washington Post that points out the emphasis on tidbits from Steve Bannon, who apparently hasn’t even spoken to Trump in over a year.
“Like the last book, “Siege” is ultimately crippled by three flaws: Wolff’s overreliance on a single character, and one who is now more distant from the action; factual errors that mar the author’s credibility; and sourcing that is so opaque it renders the scoops highly suspicious and unreliable,” Lizza wrote.
The CNN pundit noted that Wolff’s two fact-checkers “apparently weren’t enough” before outlining a series of gaffes peppered throughout the contentious book. Wolff was allowed unprecedented access to the White House for his first book and it still came under fire for sourcing and accuracy. This time, he didn’t have access to the president and relied mostly on stories provided by sources such as Bannon.
The Federalist published a list of the five “craziest anti-Trump conspiracies” that Wolff has spouted. NPR’s “Morning Edition” host Steve Inskeep grilled Wolff on the book’s credibility Monday, but the anti-Trump author pushed back.
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"Everything in this book is something that I concluded is accurate and true," Wolff told Inskeep.
Wolff has also admitted that he didn’t bother to seek a comment from subjects of the book, chalking the longstanding journalism practice up to “silly questions.”
Accuracy in Media national editor Carrie Sheffield told Fox News that “you know you've gone too far” when liberal publications question your sources and methods as a journalist for a negative book about Trump.
“Wolff himself admitted to The New York Times that his new book is simply his opinion rather than undeniable truth. Perhaps stung by the Mueller report and its clearing of the President of collusion, it could be that Wolff's book isn't catching on as much this time because the mainstream media is finally waking up to their anti-Trump stupor,” Sheffield said. “We hope the mainstream media will cultivate stronger standards of accuracy, fairness and balance going forward.”
Fox News media analyst Howard Kurtz also criticized Wolff, accusing him of failing to verify or fact-check important claims in his latest book.
"I don't know what business he thinks he's in," Kurtz said on "The Story with Martha MacCallum. "Sometimes, I guess, he digs up some interesting or salacious things. When I profiled him nearly 20 years ago people were complaining then that Michael Wolff had misquoted them."
Others have taken to Twitter to slam Wolff and his latest book:
Fox News’ Victor Garcia contributed to this report.
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