He may not be a household name, but who is Michael Wolff, the author who has angered President Donald Trump with his new tell-all book "Fire and Fury?"
Wolff, who is no stranger to books like the recent Trump expose, grew up in New Jersey, the Los Angeles Times reported. He began his career as a copy boy at the New York Times.
In the 1990s, Wolff started a company that made guides to the internet when the online world was still young.
Credit: Ben Gabbe
Credit: Ben Gabbe
Wolff has worked for Vanity Fair, the Hollywood Reporter and New York magazine as a columnist for the media outlets, the LA Times reported. He also founded Newser, a news aggregator site.
According to his official biography, Wolff has written six books, including a biography of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, called "The Man Who Owns the News: Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch."
Detractors of Wolff's work said that the writer doesn't "follow the standards of journalism," the LA Times reported.
In an article in the New Republic from 2004, Wolff said that he isn't a media reporter or a media critic, and puts himself in the center of a story from a first-person point of view.
The author of the New Republic article accused Wolff of creating events in his writing, adding that, "The scenes in his columns aren't recreated as much as created -- springing from Wolff's imagination rather than from actual knowledge of events."
As for "Fire and Fury," Wolff said, during an interview with the "Today" show, that he spoke with not only staffers but also the president for "Fire and Fury." Wolff said that staffers consider the commander in chief "like a child." He added that the conversations with Trump were not off the record.
Trump, via his standard Twitter outlet, said that he never spoke to Wolff about the book and that the author had no access to the White House.
"Fire and Fury" hit number 1 on the Amazon best-seller list on Wednesday, prior to its release on Friday. It was scheduled to be released next week, but was made available early due to demand.
>>Related: Trump lawyer threatens legal action against ‘Fire and Fury’ writer, publisher
Trump's private lawyer issued a cease and desist order to Wolff and the book's publisher, Henry Holt and Co. this week, prior to its release.
About the Author
