WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump, in a call with Jewish leaders and rabbis today ahead of the Jewish new year holiday, boasted about cutting off US aid to the Palestinians, pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal and taking the issue of Jerusalem off the table in Mideast peace talks, even as he and the White House fumed over two new devastating accounts of his presidency, largely sourced to his own current and former aides.

“I stopped massive amounts of money that we were paying to the Palestinians and the Palestinian leaders,” Trump said in the call, during which he was “interviewed” by lawyer Alan Dershowitz. “I'd say, you'll get money, but we're not paying you until we make a deal. If we don't make a deal, we're not paying. And that's going to have a little impact.” 

Trump said he wished he had pulled out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal sooner and that his decision to do so last May and to reimpose sanctions on Iran, despite Iran’s compliance with the deal, had already reduced Iran’s “mojo.” Trump credited his presidency itself with rolling back Iran’s presence in the region, though it was hard to see what evidence there was for that assertion.

“Ultimately I decided I’m just doing it,” Trump said of his decision to withdraw the United States from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action last May. “And I did it. And it’s had a tremendously positive impact on, I think really, world security, because Iran is no longer the same country. From the day I did it, they’ve lost their mojo."