Epstein Secrets

rown.co.uk HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_019877 For Victoria and Louise, mother and daughter HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_019878 CONTENTS AUTHOR’S NOTE PROLOGUE: AILES AND BANNON 1. ELECTION DAY 2. TRUMP TOWER 3. DAY ONE 4. BANNON 5. JARVANKA 6. AT HOME 7. RUSSIA 8. ORG CHART 9. CPAC 10. GOLDMAN 11. WIRETAP 12. REPEAL AND REPL

act of Trump’s presidency only with the appointment of retired general John Kelly as the chief of staff in late July and the exit of chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon three weeks later. The events I’ve described in these pages are based on conversations that took place over a period of eighteen months with the pre

Capitol Hill in a row house known as the Breitbart Embassy that doubled as the Breitbart office—the life of a messy party. No sane person would hire Steven Bannon for a job that included making the trains run on time. OOK Ok Hence, Reince Priebus. For the Hill, he was the only reasonable chief among the cont

tants and minders at constant bay. You couldn’t really make an appointment with Bannon, you just had to show up. And somehow, his own key lieutenant, Alexandra Preate, a conservative fundraiser and PR woman, was as disorganized as he was. After three marriages, Bannon lived his bachelor’s life on Capitol Hill in a

any moment, and it pleased him that Bannon’s pronouncements and views would consistently be fully formed and ever available, a bracing, unified-field narrative. As well, he could turn him off,

his White House, it was Steve Bannon. Maligning Bannon was Trump’s idea of fun. When it came to Bannon, Trump rose to something like high analysis: “Steve Bannon’s problem is PR. He doesn’t understand it. Everybody hates him. Because ... look at him. His bad PR rubs off on other people.” The real question, of c

Wing, along with State Department and National Security staff, was on board for the trip: Melania Trump, Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, Reince Priebus, Stephen Bannon, Gary Cohn, Dina Powell, Hope Hicks, Sean Spicer, Stephen Miller, Joe Hagin, Rex Tillerson, and Michael Anton. Also included were Sarah Huckabee Sand

way to say that, ever the commando, he went into battle fully exposed. “You know what he thinks even when you don’t know what he thinks,” explained Alexandra Preate. “He’s a bit like a good boy who everybody knows is a bad boy.” When the two men emerged onto the stage and appeared on the big-screen monitors, the

t whatsoever of actually winning the election—was open to any and all entreaties and offers, because it had nothing to lose. Dopey Don Jr. (Fredo, as Steve Bannon would dub him, in one of his frequent Godfather borrowings) was simply trying to prove he was a player and a go-to guy. ¢ The meeting included the c

ive. “The chance that Don Jr. did not walk these jumos up to his father’s office on the twenty-sixth floor is zero,” said an astonished and derisive Bannon, not long after the meeting was revealed. “The three senior guys in the campaign,” an incredulous Bannon went on, “thought it was a good idea to mee

’s rumored fortune—with five or six hundred books (emphasis on popular history) stacked against the wall without benefit of shelving. His lieutenant, Alexandra Preate, also lived in the building, as did the American lawyer for Nigel Farage, the right-wing British Brexit leader who was part of the greater Breitbart