Epstein Secrets

t’s coming.” HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_020050 17 ABROAD AND AT HOME n May 12, Roger Ailes was scheduled to return to New York from Palm Beach to meet with Peter Thiel, an early and lonely Trump supporter in Silicon Valley who had become increasingly astonished by Trump’s unpredictability. Ailes and Thiel, both worr

with Peter Thiel, an early and lonely Trump supporter in Silicon Valley who had become increasingly astonished by Trump’s unpredictability. Ailes and Thiel, both worried that Trump could bring Trumpism down, were set to discuss the funding and launch of a new cable news network. Thiel would pay for it an

t with Fox from any efforts to compete with it for eighteen months—sent an emissary into the West Wing with a question for Steve Bannon: O’Reilly and Hannity are in, what about you? Ailes, in secret, had been plotting his comeback with a new conservative network. Currently in internal exile inside the Whit

f the line. Hours and then days—carefully tracked by Beth Ailes—ticked off without a condolence call from the president. The morning of the funeral, Sean Hannity’s private plane took off for Palm Beach from HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_020051 Republic Airport in Farmingdale, Long Island. Accompanying Hannity was a small

ng into, “When I am president ...” The top Trump donors from 2016 were in his camp, Bannon claimed: Sheldon Adelson, the Mercers, Bernie Marcus, and Peter Thiel. In short order, and as though he had been preparing for this move for some time, Bannon had left the White House and quickly thrown together a rump

SE_OVERSIGHT_020135 Syria, 42, 183-84, 188-93, 219, 226, 265 Taliban, 267 tax reform, 87, 167, 224, 290 Tea Party, 5, 18, 26, 33, 58-59, 128, 161-63 Thiel, Peter, 21, 222, 309 Thrush, Glenn, 91, 277 Tillerson, Rex, 4, 21, 86, 211, 225, 229, 265, 267, 296, 304-6 Time magazine, 50, 56, 93, 130, 147, 276 T

ay focused, never great, had notably declined—was that he was likely to suffer by such a comparison. Instead, the interview with Trump was offered to Sean Hannity—with a preview of the questions. Bannon was also taking the Breitbart opposition research group—the same forensic accountant types who had put toget

ldeman, H. R., 27 Haley, Nikki, 305-6 Hall, Jerry, 19 Halperin, Mark, 217 Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, king of Bahrain, 231 Hanley, Allie, 127, 139 Hannity, Sean, 68, 195-96, 222-24, 309 Harder, Charles, 308 Haspel, Gina, 157 Health and Human Services Department (HHS), 166 Hemingway, Mark, 38 Heritage

do it. He wasn’t a tough guy. He was “a big warm-hearted monkey,” said Bannon, with rather faint praise. PayPal cofounder and Facebook board member Peter Thiel—really the only significant Silicon Valley voice to support Trump—was warned by another billionaire and longtime Trump friend that Trump would, in an

ilicon Valley voice to support Trump—was warned by another billionaire and longtime Trump friend that Trump would, in an explosion of flattery, offer Thiel his undying friendship. Everybody says you’re great, you and I are going to have an amazing working relationship, anything you want, call me and we'l

gone, telling Bannon and Priebus, with a gale of laughter, “Joe doesn’t think we had a good week.” And turning to Scarborough: “I could have invited Hannity!” At lunch—fish, which Brzezinski doesn’t eat—Jared and Ivanka joined the president and Scarborough and Brzezinski. Jared had become quite a Scarbor