'Unhinged' Trump, orange jumpsuits and stolen documents: The most explosive revelations from Bob Woodward book

A new book by renowned Watergate journalist Bob Woodward has painted an unflattering picture of Donald Trump’s White House, depicting his administration as being in a state of “nervous breakdown”.

Fear: Trump in the White House suggests that senior aides worry about an erratic president who they fear poses a danger to national security.

Excerpts published by The Washington Post allege that some of Mr Trump’s key advisers resorted to acting behind his back to prevent him damaging international relations and the US economy.

The White House has dismissed the book as “nothing more than fabricated stories, many by former disgruntled employees, told to make the president look bad”.

Here are seven key claims made in the book, published on 11 September.

Trump wanted to assassinate Syria’s president

After Bashar al-Assad launched a chemical attack on civilians in April 2017, Mr Trump is reported to have told his defence secretary he wanted the Syrian president assassinated.

Mr Woodward’s alleges that the US leader called James Mattis and said: “Let’s f***ing kill him! Let’s go in. Let’s kill the f***ing lot of them.”

Mr Mattis told Mr Trump he would “get right on it”, but after hanging up the phone he told a senior aide: “We’re not going to do any of that. We’re going to be much more measured.”

The administration’s national security team instead drew up plans for limited airstrikes which did not threaten the Syrian president personally.

Lawyer was convinced the president would commit perjury if he spoke to Russia probe leader Robert Mueller

Mr Trump’s former personal lawyer John Dowd is said to have told the president that he would probably end up in prison if he testified to special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

To illustrate his point he reportedly staged a practice interrogation with the president, who responded to questions with “stumbles, contradictions and lies” before losing his cool.

“Don’t testify,” Mr Dowd allegedly told him. “It’s either that or an orange jumpsuit.”

But Mr Trump is said to have been convinced he could handle Mr Mueller’s questions, declaring: “I’ll be a real good witness.”

“You are not a good witness,” Mr Dowd replied. “Mr President, I’m afraid I just can’t help you.”

He resigned the next morning.

Trump called attorney general ‘mentally retarded’ and ‘a dumb southerner’

Jeff Sessions is a frequent target of Mr Trump’s Twitter attacks, but according to the book the president is even more scathing about the attorney general behind closed doors.

Speaking to then staff secretary Rob Porter, he is said to have described Mr Sessions as a “traitor” for recusing himself from the Russia probe.

Mocking the attorney general’s accent, he reportedly added: “This guy is mentally retarded. He’s this dumb Southerner … He couldn’t even be a one-person country lawyer down in Alabama.”

Mattis said Trump acted like ‘a fifth or sixth-grader’

Some of the president’s closest advisers are depicted in the book as being exasperated by his ignorance about key issues.

During a National Security Council meeting, Mr Trump is said to have asked why the US was spending resources on maintaining a military presence in the Korean peninsula.

“We’re doing this in order to prevent World War III,” his defence secretary told him.

Mr Woodward recounts: “Mattis was particularly exasperated and alarmed, telling close associates that the president acted like – and had the understanding of – ‘a fifth or sixth-grader’. ”

White House chief of staff John Kelly said on Mr Trump: ‘We’re in Crazytown’

White House chief of staff John F Kelly frequently vented his fury about Mr Trump and told colleagues he thought the president was “unhinged”, the book claims.

In one small group meeting, Mr Kelly is reported to have said: “He’s an idiot. It’s pointless to try to convince him of anything. He’s gone off the rails. We’re in Crazytown. I don’t even know why any of us are here. This is the worst job I’ve ever had.”

Adviser stole documents off Trump’s desk to prevent economic crisis

Faced with Mr Trump’s rage and unpredictability, the president’s cabinet members and other senior officials “learned to act discreetly” to foil his most dangerous impulses, Fear claims.

In one instance, Gary Cohn, the president’s former top adviser, “stole a letter off Trump’s desk” to prevent the president signing it. Had he done so, it would have formally withdrawn the US from a trade agreement with South Korea.

Mr Cohn later told an associate he swiped the letter to protect national security and that the president did not notice it was missing.

He is said to have used similar tactics to prevent Mr Trump taking the country out of the North American Free Trade Agreement last year.

Trump said condemning white supremacists was ‘the biggest f***ing mistake I’ve made’

Facing intense criticism for saying “both sides” were to blame for deadly neo-Nazi violence in Charlottesville in August 2017, Mr Trump was convinced by aides to publicly condemn white supremacists and the Ku Klux Klan.

Almost immediately after issuing the statement he reportedly told aides it was “the biggest f***ing mistake I’ve made” and the “worst speech I’ve ever given”.