“Mr. President," Matlock said, "President Bush has asked me to notify you of a report we have received which we find greatly disturbing, although we cannot confirm it. It is based on more than rumor but less than hard information. It is that there is an effort under way to remove you, and it could happen at any time, even this week."
Matlock did not name his source. He was trying to convey that the information was “not from intelligence sources, but that was just what Chernyaev and Gorbachev assumed he was saying. On his notepad, Chernyaev wrote, "American services" had given the warning the coup would be the next day.
Both Gorbachev and Chernyaev laughed. Matlock recalled that Gorbachev then grew serious. "Tell President Bush I am touched. I have felt for some time that we are partners, and now he has proved it. Thank him for his concern. He has done just what a friend should do. But tell him not to worry. I have everything well in hand. You'll see tomorrow.”