Trump still in contact with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un: book

Former President Trump is reportedly still communicating with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, according to a new book set to be released by a New York Times journalist.

The news comes amid reports in recent weeks that the country had continued to conduct missile tests.

In her new book, “Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America,” New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman reports that the former president says he has continued to stay in contact with the North Korean leader.

Axios was the first to report the book’s detail.

In an interview on CNN’s “New Day” on Thursday, Haberman noted that Trump has told people that he has continued to say in contact with Kim, with the caveat that his statement might not necessarily be true just because Trump said it.

“You know, what he says and what’s actually happening are not always in concert, John, but he has been telling people that he has maintained some kind of a either correspondence or discussion with Kim Jong Un,” Haberman told CNN’s John Berman.

She noted that while it is not unusual for former presidents to keep in contact with world leaders after leaving office, Kim was the only world leader to her knowledge that Trump has said he has still stayed in contact with.

“Those letters, you know, from Kim Jong Un, that The Washington Post in terrific reporting, reported on the fact that he had taken with him to the White House, the original copies, he would wave them around, as I understand, he would wave them around in the White House and he would wave them around at Mar-a-Lago,” Haberman said. “He would have them in his boxes, and he would take them out and show them to people.”

She added that Trump also had photos in his office of the North Korean leader.

In a statement released through his Save America PAC, the former president claimed she was “making up stories about my relationships with foreign leaders.”

“She claims I speak with Kim Jong Un of North Korea, but not other world leaders. Wrong!”

The news comes several days after the Post reported that 15 boxes of presidential records were retrieved by the National Archives and Records Administration from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence. The contents reportedly included letters between Trump and Kim. The Post noted that the former president described them as “love letters.”

“Confidence Man” is set to be released on Oct. 4.

This story was updated on Feb. 11 at 5:35 p.m.