Epstein Secrets

favor. Give me your a card. Don't ask me why, just give it to me. You'll be thanking me for rest of your life:" Bannon opened his wallet and gave Priebus his American ExI card. Priebus shortly returned, handed the card back, and said, "You have legal insurance Over the next year, Bannon—a witness of

Chief of Staff John Kelly, fed up with Trump—just as Trump was f up with him—seemed surely on the way out. Kelly had joined the Wh House, replacing Reince Priebus, Trump's first chief of staff, in Aug 2017, charged with bringing management discipline to a chaotic W Wing. But by mid-fall, Trump was circumventi

affel, who, like Kushn was a Democrat, had worked for Hiltzik Strategies, the New York Pub relations firm that represented ivanka's clothing line. Hope Hicks, who had also worked for the Hiltzik firm—perhaps b known for having long represented the film producer Harvey Weinste caught, in the fall of 2017,

to tell him that then-White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus knew about the emails. There are four redacted p

him that then-White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus knew about the emails. There are four redacted p

will never get out? During two interviews with FBI agents and members of Bob Mueller's team last year, former White House communications director Hope Hicks recounted the president's reaction to the discovery of damning emails about the meeting his son Donald Trump Jr., son-in-law Jared Kushner and camp

it off: it was Reince Priebus’s fault, not hers. She had spent a good part of the day calling friends and allies in the political world and blaming Priebus. Now she briefed some of the television producers and anchors with whom she’d built strong relationships—and with whom, actively interviewing in the

ce director and then finance director of the Republican National Committee, and finally, pre-White House, chief of staff of the RNC and its chairman, Reince Priebus. In retrospect, the key moment in saving the Trump campaign might be less the Mercer- led takeover and imposition of Bannon and Conway in mid-August

r Stone, was noisily ousted by Lewandowski, and then Trump exponentially increased the public dirty-clothes-washing by suing Nunberg. Lewandowski and Hope Hicks, the PR aide put on the campaign by Ivanka Trump, had an affair that ended in a public fight on the street—an incident cited by Nunberg in his respon

ive. As well, he could turn him off, and Bannon would be tactically quiet until turned on again. Kushner had neither Bannon’s policy imagination nor Priebus’s institutional ties. But, of course, he had family status, carrying its own high authority. In addition, he had billionaire status. He had cultivate

e president left the West Wing for Marine One, which was soon en route to Andrews Air Force Base. Accompanying him were Steve Bannon, Stephen Miller, Reince Priebus, Hope Hicks, and Kellyanne Conway. Vice President Pence and his wife joined the group at Andrews for the brief flight on Air Force One to Harrisburg,

d. It was a turning point. Until now, Trump’s inner circle had been mostly game to defend him. But after the wiretap tweets, everybody, save perhaps Hope Hicks, moved into a state of queasy sheepishness, if not constant incredulity. Sean Spicer, for one, kept repeating his daily, if not hourly, mantra: “You

egic approach on the part of the president—quite an unlikely development. Meanwhile, the couple blamed everyone else in the White House. They blamed Priebus for the disarray that had produced a warlike atmosphere that propelled constant and damaging leaks, they blamed Bannon for leaking, and they blamed S

in his unquestioned certitudes. There was now a fair amount of back-of-the-classroom giggling about who had called Trump what. For Steve Mnuchin and Reince Priebus, he was an “idiot.” For Gary Cohn, he was “dumb as shit.” For H. R. McMaster he was a “dope.” The list went on. Tillerson would merely become yet an

gton, Sean Spicer and everybody else from the communications office was relegated to the back of the plane and excluded from the panicky discussions. Hope Hicks became the senior communications strategist, with the president, as always, her singular client. In the days following, that highest political state

eks after the inauguration, and not long SIEGE $ after the FBI had first raised questions about National Security Adv Michael Flynn, Chief of Staff Reince Priebus had walked into Steve I nons office and said, “I'm going to do you a big favor. Give me your ci card. Don't ask me why, just give it to me. You'll be

who was anywhere near it. + + + The ultimate keeper of the secrets from the campaign, the transition, through the first year in the White House was Hope Hicks, the W House communications director. She had witnessed most everyth HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_021126 --- PAGE BREAK --- 6 MICHAEL WOLFF She saw what the p