NEW YORK (AP) – `Rage’ author Bob Woodward said CNN reporter Jamie Gangel helped convince him to release audio tapes of his interviews with President Donald Trump.

Woodward said those interviews, with Trump telling him that he played down dangers of the coronavirus epidemic in order not to create a panic, gave `Rage’ a bigger initial impact than words on a page would have alone.

“It’s not the same as it is on the page,” Woodward said. “The microphone really is a microscope.”

Gangel worked in tandem with Elsa Walsh, herself an accomplished reporter who helps edit her husband’s books, to encourage release of the tapes.

They were first given to CNN and The Washington Post.

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