For nine months back in 2020, when the phone rang at Bob Woodward's Georgetown home, there was a good chance it was a call he didn't want to miss:

White House operator: "Mr. Woodward, the president..." Trump: "Hi, Bob!"

Woodward noted, "The phone would ring; is it a robocall, or is it Trump?"

Sometimes Woodward's wife, journalist Elsa Walsh, answered the calls, which came day or night. She joked, "I sort of say – like Princess Diana – that there were three people in this marriage: Bob, me, and Donald Trump. And it was sort of never-ending."

Woodward scattered tape recor...