WASHINGTON – Former President Donald Trump said during a post-presidency interview with an author that he was dealing with an Afghanistan-related issue even though he no longer had foreign policy powers, according to audio obtained exclusively with NBC News was shared.
“The reason I’m doing this and spending a lot of time on it is because I have to get back up, because I’m doing the whole Afghanistan thing,” Trump told author Ramin Setoodeh in an interview after his presidency. Did he ruin Afghanistan?’
Setoodeh, who wrote the new book “Apprentice in Wonderland,” has previously detailed the Afghanistan conversation with Trump, saying in an interview with CNN that Trump “seemed to think he still had some foreign policy powers.”
But chairman Joe Biden had banned Trump from receiving intelligence briefings typically provided to former presidents.
Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung asked for clarification on Trump’s comments on Afghanistan, criticizing Biden’s handling of the Afghan withdrawal as “failed” and pointing to the deaths of 13 service members.
“That is Biden’s fault and he will never be able to make that happen,” Cheung said in a statement.
He did not address why Trump would discuss handling a foreign policy issue when he no longer had those powers.
In an MSNBC interview Thursday, Setoodeh cast doubt on Trump’s memory, saying his memory of his reality TV show “The Apprentice” was “much clearer than his memory of what he did in the White House.”
“He stumbled over the chronology of recent events,” Setoodeh said. “He stumbled over what had happened during our interviews. When we spoke back to back, he couldn’t really remember talking to me between our first and second conversations.”
Trump’s “short-term memory was not clear,” Setoodeh added. “It was very foggy and he had trouble remembering things.”
Biden and Trump are the oldest presidents in American history. Biden, 81, and Trump, 78, have both worked to portray each other as mentally unfit for office.
In his statement to NBC News, Cheung attacked Setoodeh’s characterization of Trump’s memory.
Cheung criticized Setoodeh for “choosing to let Trump Derangement Syndrome rot his brain, like so many other losers whose entire existence revolves around President Trump.”
Polls show voters are concerned about what the candidates’ age might mean for their ability to hold office. According to polls, voters appear more likely to view the issue as a responsibility of Biden rather than Trump.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
