Sentence structure matters. From Trumps statement:

** If the story of “Dumbass” General Mark Milley**...yada, yada,yada...is true, then I assume....

Next paragraph of his statement begins:

The good news is that the story is Fake news concocted by a weak and ineffective General together with two authors who I refused to give an interview to because they write fiction, not fact.

Trump is telling us that Woodward is full of shit and this never happened.