Former US President Donald Trump became fixated on bombing Mexican drug labs during his time in the White House, a new book claims.
New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman's tell-all memoir Confidence Man says mistaken identity may have confused the issue leading to an embarrassing escalation.
POTUS 45 - who was ousted by Joe Biden in 2021 - had reportedly been told by assistant secretary for health Brett Giroir that the supply of drugs into the US from the facilities needed stopping.
He said this should be done by putting "lead to target", writes Ms Haberman.
She goes on to write, Mr Trump then "raised it several times" before "eventually asking a stunned" Defence Secretary Mark Esper "whether the United States could indeed bomb the labs".
Mr Giroir had no authority in the mobilisation of weaponry and Ms Haberman suggests the President may have mistaken him for a defence expert due to his similar uniform.
“The response from White House aides was not to try to change Trump’s view, but to consider asking Giroir not to wear his uniform to the Oval Office anymore,” Ms Haberman writes.
The 607-page book is out on Thursday and lifts the lid on the Trump administration via accounts of aides and insiders.
The author also interviewed Mr Trump on multiple occasions.
Other bizarre points of interest in the book include a Republican congresswoman receiving a phone call from someone claiming to be a Washington Post reporter but who sounded "a lot like" Mr Trump.
The book also features Mr Trump’s crass interactions with world leaders, including supposedly calling former German Prime Minister Angela Merkel “that b****".
And talking to former British Prime Minister Theresa May about her views on abortion, he allegedly asked: “Imagine if some animals with tattoos raped your daughter and she got pregnant?”
While Ms Haberman writes aides attempted to prevent Mr Trump from tweeting a photo of an Iranian facility until classified markings in the image could be removed.
But he did so anyway and said “If you take out the classification, that’s the sexy part”.
