Author Michael Wolff has claimed that Donald Trump harbours a "major" insecurity about being perceived as stupid, and that Vladimir Putin may hold evidence of it. The claim was made in an interview with Joanna Coles on The Daily Beast's Inside Trump's Head podcast.
Wolff's claim about Trump's fears
Wolff, who authored Trump-focused books including Fire and Fury and All or Nothing, said that at the "top" of Trump's concerns was his purported anxiety about being seen as "stupid". He stated: "I think top of his list, top of the things that plagues him, is being seen as stupid, for one reason – because he is stupid."
Wolff also claimed that Trump's school years were "always a complete catastrophe", and that he "probably does have some learning disability, which I think is very, you know, uncomfortable for him. I mean, he is...that is one of the roots of his major insecurities."
Claims about Putin and Bannon
Wolff further indicated that the Russians might hold the damning evidence Trump dreads. He claimed to have previously spoken with prominent MAGA figure Steve Bannon, a political strategist who served as a top adviser to Trump throughout the 2016 presidential campaign, regarding "what Putin might have on Trump".
Wolff said: "Steve Bannon and I were talking about what Putin might have on Trump. And Bannon went through all the things, dismissing them, you know, the pee tapes.."
Steele dossier and college transcripts
In 2017, bombshell allegations by former British spy Christopher Steele surfaced in a dossier, amongst which was the claim that Trump had hired prostitutes to urinate on a bed at the Moscow Ritz-Carlton Presidential Suite, where the Obamas had previously stayed. Steele alleged that Trump had been "compromised" by the Russian security service, the FSB, and that they held "kompromat" material in their possession, though no evidence of such a tape ever materialised.
Addressing the alleged tape, Wolff said: "If that came out, that really wouldn't bother him because Trump would just say, 'That's not me'. Even if you saw Trump in the picture peeing on the mattress, he would just say, 'No, that's not me'."
Wolff claimed Bannon believed the material they possessed on Trump consisted of his college transcripts. Trump initially studied at Fordham University before transferring to the University of Pennsylvania, where he obtained an economics degree from the Wharton School. Wolff alleged that during the 2016 campaign there was a fear those transcripts would come out, and that they "came down very hard on the University of Pennsylvania" and said they would "take every action against you if those transcripts are not buried". Trump has categorically denied all allegations contained within the Steele dossier.
