'Trump's movement continues,' his rallies bear watching, says 'Peril' co-author Robert Costa

Robert Costa remarked to a National Press Club audience Monday that he keeps an "assume nothing" card over his desk, and then told his listeners how that has worked out in his understanding and coverage of politicians ranging from Bernie Sanders to Donald Trump and Joe Biden -- and even Mike Pence.

Costa is co-author, along with Bob Woodward, of "Peril," the best-selling account of Trump's last days as president and Biden's assuming the presidency after a long journey that began in the 1970s. The two authors are Washington Post reporters.

"Power is different now in America," Costa told a Club's Headliners Book Event. He said Fox News's Tucker Carlson and conservative Steve Bannon have the ear of Trump and thus perhaps wield more power today than House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy and Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell.

 "Trump's movement continues," Costa said. "You've got to watch his rallies [throughout the country.] Trump wants his army back. We need to watch these movements."

Costa  described the rise of Sanders, a little-known senator in years past, and his rise in the left, and Trump's emergence in 2014 and 2015. As for Biden, known as "Amtrak Joe" for his commuting to Delaware as a young senator, Costa reflected on how he moved from being a vice president who cut deals with Mitch McConnell to wanting to be a "transformational progressive president with a mission" who could propose a $3 trillion social package.

"Biden's story is as compelling as Trump's," Costa said.

Costa portrayed former Vice President Pence almost affectionately, saying he had covered him more closely than any other politician -- as far back as when he was a "low key congressman" from Indiana. Costa said  "the real story of Jan. 6 was the testing of democracy through the testing of Mike Pence."

Costa said Trump did everything possible to get Pence to change his mind and refuse to certify the Electoral College vote, thus throwing the election into the House and a Trump victory. "

"Pence decided to hold his ground," Costa said.  "What if Pence had gone the other way?" Costa asked. "It would have been a constitutional crisis."

Club Membership Secretary Emily Wilkins, who chaired the sit-down conversation with Costa, asked him what he would ask Trump -- who had refused to be interviewed for the book -- if he could ask one question. Costa, noting that Trump never uses email but only the phone, said he would ask Trump for his telephone logs of Jan. 6.

Costa said the day was "far darker than we knew."

"We need to get to the bottom of Jan. 6," Costa said, adding he had watched the insurrection "with a chill."

The publication of "Peril" occurred too quickly, he said, before he and Woodward had gotten all the answers they needed. The title, "Peril," he said came from Biden's Inaugural address and his phrase, "the winter of peril," but Costa and Woodward expanded the meaning to include "the peril facing American democracy. Can American democracy remain?"

Asked to compare the 1970s Watergate scandal and Trump, Costa pointed out that the Republican base deserted President Nixon in the former, but stayed with Trump in the latter. And, he said, and, Nixon retired to California "but Trump isn't going away."