A year after the buzzy release of his book "Rage," which contained incriminating evidence regarding former President Donald Trump's approach to the COVID-19 pandemic, investigative journalist Bob Woodward is gearing up for his next bombshell publication.
Publishing giant Simon & Schuster announced Monday that the third and final installment in Woodward's bestselling trilogy of Trump exposes is on its way. Out Sept. 21, "Peril" will explore the turbulent transfer of power from Trump to President Joe Biden amid a global health crisis.
For his latest deep dive into modern White House history, Woodward has joined forces with fellow Washington Post reporter Robert Costa. The colleagues conducted more than 200 interviews with individuals at the heart of the intense presidential transition in preparation for their ambitious joint project, billed as a "spellbinding and definitive portrait of a nation on the brink."
According to Simon & Schuster, the forthcoming book is also "supplemented throughout with never-before-seen material from secret orders, transcripts of confidential phone calls, diaries, emails, meeting notes and other personal and government records."
"Peril," a detailed account spanning the final moments of the Trump presidency and the early months of the Biden administration, is the highly anticipated follow-up to Woodward's previous Trump investigations, "Fear" and "Rage."
Shortly before "Rage" hit shelves last year, audio surfaced of Woodward interviewing Trump for his book about the White House's handling of the COVID-19 emergency.
The watershed recording — in which Trump admitted to intentionally downplaying the dangers of the novel coronavirus — ignited a strong backlash, directed at both the former president and the journalist, who was accused of withholding key information to sell copies of his work.
In response to the criticism, Woodward told the Associated Press his primary goal was to finish and release "Rage" before the presidential election and after a thorough fact check — because "Trump says things that don't check out, right?"
"That was the demarcation line for me," he said in September. "Had I decided that my book was coming out on Christmas, the end of this year, that would have been unthinkable."
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