Epstein Secrets

virtual policy, it has also been more open to the media than any White House in recent memory. In the beginning, I sought a level of formal access to this White House, something of a fly-on- the-wall status. The president himself encouraged this idea. But, given the many fiefdoms in the Trump White House that came

heeding Senate leader Mitch McConnell’s prescription that “this president will sign whatever is put in front of him,” while also taking advantage of the White House’s lack of political and legislative experience and outsourcing as much policy as possible to Capitol Hill. In the early weeks of the administration, P

om he had never met before, for positions whose importance Trump did not particularly understand. Ailes, a veteran of the Nixon, Reagan, and Bush 41 White Houses, was growing worried by the president-elect’s lack of immediate focus on a White House structure that could serve and protect him. He tried to impres

cific ideas about how to turn his themes and vitriol into policy, nor a team that could reasonably unite behind him. HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_019969 In most White Houses, policy and action flow down, with staff trying to implement what the president wants—or, at the very least, what the chief of staff says the preside

told Trump not long after the election. “You’ll want to be your own son of a bitch, but you don’t know Washington.” Ailes had a suggestion: “Speaker Boehner.” (John Boehner had been the Speaker of the House until he was forced out in a Tea Party putsch in 2011.) “Who’s that?” asked Trump. Everybody in T

ning behind the scenes. He said he connected Giuliani with a top aide to the new Ukrainian president because he hoped it would smooth the way for a White House meeting and improved bilateral ties. Eager to defend his own reputation, Volker was adamant that he never personally witnessed or participated in i

ague: The official White House Twitter account attacked a current White House official in the middle of that official's testimony before Congress: The White House's director of social media also attacked Vindman from his government account, prompting this observation from a Post colleague: The president's son

of constitutional standoff. Paul Kane reports: "Officially there to unveil a portrait that will hang in a venerated room just off the House floor, Boehner brought with him one last bid to get his former colleagues to embrace a style that charmed friends and enemies alike. He remains an eternal optimis

lic enemy; they expected nothing of him. But Priebus and Spicer HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_020089 they regarded as functionaries, and their job was to support the White House’s goals, which included their goals and interests. Spicer, ever ridiculed in the media for his cockamamie defense of the White House and a seeming dum

ce his exit from the White House six weeks before—he was on a crash all-sushi diet. “That building,” said his friend David Bossie, speaking about all White Houses but especially the Trump White House, “takes perfectly healthy people and turns them into old, unhealthy people.” But Bannon, who Bossie had declared

os, Jeff, 35 Biosphere 2, 56 Blackstone Group, 35, 78, 87, 298 Blackwater, 265 Blair, Tony, 156-58, 228 Blankfein, Lloyd, 144 Bloomberg, Michael, 117 Boehner, John, 26, 161 Boeing, 88 Bolton, John, 4-5, 189 border wall, 77-78, 228, 280, 303 Bossie, David, 58, 144, 177, 234, 237, 301 Bowles, Erskine, 27 Boy

ithner, then the Treasury secretary, said the administration's plan was devised so that the corporate tax code could be overhauled separately. Even the White House's rollout of the President's proposal in Chattanooga became an excuse for finger-pointing. White House officials said they briefed Democratic and Rep

o appeal to an increasingly diverse nation when the behavior of a small but vocal portion of its coalition is both offensive and clueless. Gerson: Boehner's response was not only tough — just the kind of rapid response Sister Souljah-ing Republicans need more of — but politically sophisticated. To expr

the prime minister is universally known, was his own. But the facts indicate that this most- sought-after event was initiated at Bibi's behest. Now, the White House couldn't say no and risk an open rupture with Israel's supporters, so officials there unhappily went along. The Obama administration saw the "invit

invitation from House Speaker John Boehner to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address a joint session of the U.S. Congress on May 24. Boehner acts as if the idea of inviting "Bibi," as the prime minister is universally known, was his own. But the facts indicate that this most- sought-after

ction begins to think about his second term well before victory is assured. In early 2009, Rahm Emanuel, Obama's first chief of staff, told me that the White House was already contemplating the Presidency in terms of eight years. He said that it was folly to try to accomplish E FTA_R1_02204162 EFTA02720633

r negotiations when it came to light that they were negotiating a plan to raise far more revenue than the deal that Obama was ready to strike with Boehner. Instead of a grand bargain, in late July the White House and Republicans agreed to raise the debt ceiling enough for about eighteen more months o

ague: The official White House Twitter account attacked a current White House official in the middle of that official's testimony before Congress: The White House's director of social media also attacked Vindman from his government account, prompting this observation from a Post colleague: The president's son a

of constitutional standoff. Paul Kane reports: "Officially there to unveil a portrait that will hang in a venerated room just off the House floor, Boehner brought with him one last bid to get his former colleagues to embrace a style that charmed friends and enemies alike. He remains an eternal optimist

he end, it sounded as if the only cliff-avoidance Boehner was real- ly interested in was one that caised ne

er a cliff, or raising income taxes on the rich he looked somber and somewhat unhappy. This may have been because his Republican colleagues just lost the White House and the Senate. Or per- haps, it was simply because he’s an older white guy, and, therefore, part of the biggest loser demographic of the election, t