Summary

In Chapter 26, Woodward discusses McMaster's conclusion that Tillerson and Mattis had decided to formulate their own policies, given the insanity and chaos of the White House. Priebus arranged a meeting in which McMaster told Tillerson that he didn't work with the White House. Tillerson said that the White House was a complete mess. Porter saw the rift between Tillerson and McMaster as evidence of the dysfunction in the Trump administration. In July of 2017, Trump went after Attorney General Jeff Sessions for recusing himself from the Russia investigation. Trump wanted to force Sessions to resign, but Sessions refused and Trump backed off. Jared Kushner appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee to say that he had not colluded with the Russians. Trump's attack on Sessions had been a diversion from the meat of the situation, but Trump continued to attack Sessions as a "dumb Southerner...