Epstein Secrets

irman. In 2010, as foreign policy advisor to now-Vice President Biden, McKeon was the Obama administration's point per

h—a spot usually reserved for the Vice-President. Joe EFTA00712756 Biden was bumped to the following

ng spot at the Convention, in Charlotte, the night before the President's speech—a spot usually reserved for the Vice-President. Joe EFTA00712756 Biden was bumped to the following night, in the slot immediately before Obama. The reconciliation began in earnest late last summer. Patrick Gaspard, the

tightly controlled national security matters from the White House. Because his power is so outsized, we have not included him -- or Vice President Joe Biden, the resident devil's advocate whose occasional verbal missteps belie his deep international experience -- on our list of the 50 Democrats who have

n, recently suggesting that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is primarily responsible for the failure of the Middle East peace process. 8. Ben Rhodes Behind Obama's biggest foreign-policy speeches -- his campaign address before 200,000 people in Berlin, his 2009 Cairo remarks on Middle East poli

esn't it seem as if he hates the job? And so on. This is the knowing talk on Wall Street, on K Street, on Capitol Hill, in green rooms—the "Morning Joe" consensus. There are other ways to assess the political skills of a President who won two terms, as only seventeen of forty-four Presidents have,

of Obama's national career, raising millions of dollars for him and for the Party's Super PACs. Nor has he been hurt by his political associations. Joe Biden helped pave the way with Xi Jinping and other officials so that DreamWorks and other Hollywood companies could build studios in China. (In an awkwa

he been hurt by his political associations. Joe Biden helped pave the way with Xi Jinping and other off

an XXL France or Germany." Obama's "long game" on foreign policy calls for traditional categories of American power and ideology to be reordered. Ben Rhodes, the deputy national-security adviser for strategic communications, told me that Washington was "trapped in very stale narratives." "In the foreig

02029356 EFTA02689731 24 The positions of senior officials in this process reflect a mixture of serious thought and gamesmanship. Vice President Biden along with NSC Adviser Tom Donilon mark the center—there is no left. They're pressing for a July announcement of 30,000 in cuts over 12 months. Te

t a mixture of serious thought and gamesmanship. Vice President Biden along with NSC Adviser Tom Donilon mark the cent

drawal total and end dates could change somewhat. No one, not even Obama's most intimate national-security aides—Tom Donilon, Denis McDonough, and Ben Rhodes—can be certain of their boss' final calculations, but key officials feel confident that the president's secret thinking will generally hold. Sorti

deductions without Republicans in Congress agreeing to do the same. In May, 2011, shortly after a government shutdown was averted, Vice-President Joseph Biden and the House Majority Leader, Eric Cantor, two politicians opposed in ideology and temperament, held talks exploring whether a deficit deal was p

ment shutdown was averted, Vice-President Joseph Biden and the House Majority Leader, Eric Cantor, two

like to leave." VII E FTA_R1_02204189 EFTA02720660 After I talked with Plouffe, I wandered down to the basement of the White House to meet with Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national-security adviser. That day, Obama was meeting with Francois Hollande, the new French President; the building was filled w