A new book titled “New Cold Wars: China’s Rise, Russia’s Invasion, and America’s Struggle to Defend the West,” authored by David Sanger, reveals an incident in which former U.S. President Donald Trump derailed a crucial Oval Office meeting intended to address threats from Chinese telecoms. Instead of focusing on the national security issue, Trump spent much of the time discussing personal topics, including women and sex, primarily involving Stormy Daniels. AT&T’s chief, Randall Stephenson, who was present at the meeting, struggled to redirect the conversation towards Chinese threats to infrastructure but was unsuccessful as Trump commented on the topic as “boring.”

Further, the book links the AT&T hiring of Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer, as a political consultant to Cohen’s involvement in the Stormy Daniels affair, scrutinizing the company’s reputation and entangling it in the legal challenges against Trump over hush-money payments to Daniels.

In related developments, Trump has intensified his attacks on the judiciary and prosecution ahead of his hush-money trial in New York, labeling his indictment over a $130,000 payment to Daniels as a “communist show trial.” Despite facing 34 felony charges, Trump remains a prominent figure for the Republican nomination in the upcoming presidential election. He has also violated a gag order issued by Judge Juan Merchan, overseeing the trial, by making public statements discrediting the trial’s participants and questioning the integrity of the proceedings. The trial is notably significant as it could be the only legal proceeding against Trump to occur before the 2024 election.