Trump called Sessions ‘mentally retarded’: Woodward book

President Trump mocked Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s Southern accent and called him “mentally retarded” in a conversation with a White House aide recounted in Bob Woodward’s new book, which was obtained by The Washington Post on Tuesday.

Trump lashed out at Sessions, who he has repeatedly criticized for recusing himself from the Russian investigation, while speaking with then-White House staff secretary Rob Porter.

“This guy is mentally retarded. He’s this dumb Southerner,” Trump reportedly told Porter while using a Southern accent. “He couldn’t even be a one-person country lawyer down in Alabama.”

The president reportedly Sessions a “traitor” for not overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The Hill has reached out to the White House and the Justice Department for comment. 

Woodward, a veteran journalist known for his reporting on the Nixon-era Watergate scandal as well as a series of tell-all books on past administrations led by presidents of both parties, is releasing his new book on Sept. 11.

“Fear: Trump in the White House” reportedly offers a detailed account of the inner workings of the Trump administration. 

Woodward’s account is based on “hundreds of hours of interviews with firsthand sources, meeting notes, personal diaries, files and documents.”

The book’s release date comes less than two months before the midterm elections.