Four international revelations from the new book on Trump

Excerpts from journalist Michael Wolff's forthcoming book "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House" detail salacious allegations and explosive insight into background conversations thought to have shaped US President Donald Trump's first year in office.

Although the book isn't available until next week, excerpts published this week in a number of media outlets shed new light on the Trump administration's early days. CNN has not independently verified all of the details in Wolff's book.

In his book, Wolff claims that former British Prime Minister Tony Blair held a secret meeting with Trump's senior advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner in February 2017. He writes that Blair told Kushner it was possible the UK may have spied on campaign officials or even Trump himself, according to excerpts published in the Times of London and the Guardian, which obtained a copy of the book.

Blair flatly denied the claims.
"I have never had such conversations in the White House or outside of the White House, with Jared Kushner or with anybody else," Blair told BBC Radio 4's "Today" program on Thursday.
Blair also said that he had spoken with Kushner about the Middle East peace process but that he had not been fishing for a job within the administration -- nor was he offered one.
The UK intelligence agency GCHQ -- the equivalent of the US National Security Agency -- reiterated its denial of any spying claims.
"As we have previously stated, allegations that GCHQ was asked to conduct 'wire-tapping' against Trump Tower are nonsense. They are utterly ridiculous and should be ignored," a GCHQ spokesperson said on Thursday.

 Allegations of UK spying first arose during a press briefing in May, when then-White House press secretary Sean Spicer read out a Fox News report that said that GCHQ had spied on Trump.

Prime Minister Theresa May's office first called the claims "ridiculous" and said they "should be ignored," adding that they had "received assurances that these allegations won't be repeated."

RUSSIA: 'Putin couldn't give a s*** about him'

Over a late-night dinner between ousted Fox News head Roger Ailes and then-White House chief strategist Steve Bannon on January 3, 2017 -- two weeks before the inauguration -- Wolff writes that talk of Russia was on the menu.

"What has he gotten himself into with the Russians?" Ailes asked Bannon during the meal, which was organized by mutual friends at a townhouse in downtown New York, according to Wolff.

"Mostly, he went to Russia and he thought he was going to meet [President Vladimir] Putin. But Putin couldn't give a s*** about him. So he's kept trying," Bannon said, according to Wolff's New York Magazine story, which was adapted from his forthcoming book.