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

of liberals, who hoped to use these “incidental” wiretaps as a way to tie the Trump camp to a wide- ranging conspiracy with Russia. In short order, McGahn, Priebus, and Bannon, each with prior doubts about Flynn’s reliability and judgment—“a fuck-up,” according to Bannon—conferred about the Yates messag

n Trump's inner circle. 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-f

mp campaign, arguably among the most careless about election law compliance in recent history. Before joining the Trump administra- tion, McGahn had no White House or executive branch experience. He had never worked in the Justice Department or, in fact, anywhere in gov- ernment. Formerly an attorney for a nonp

ing, mocking, falsetto-voice mimicry, and, as well, sweeping disparagements of his purpose and usefulness. "This is why we can't have nice things," McGahn uttered almost obses- sively under his breath, quoting the Taylor Swift song to comment on whatever egregious act Trump had just committed C... beca

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

ouglas N. Letter arguing last week's opening of the hearings before the House Intelligence Committee was grounds for urgency. ... William A. Burck, McGahn's attorney, has said that McGahn will abide by the president's instructions absent a court reversal." -- Republicans are running through a multitu

thirty, Ryan called the president to say he was short fifteen to twenty votes and needed to pull the vote. Bannon, backed by Mulvaney, who had become the White House’s Hill operative, continued to urge an immediate vote. A defeat here would be a major defeat for the Republican leadership. That suited Bannon just fin

ore and more seemed to be. Meanwhile, virtually everybody believed that a large measure of the fault lay in Reince Priebus, who had failed to create a White House that could protect the president from himself—or from Bannon or from his own children. At the same time, believing that the fundamental problem lay i

Trump had taken it up.) Firing Comey will be a huge fundraising advantage, declared the president, a man who almost never talked about fundraising. McGahn tried to explain that in fact Comey himself was not running the Russia investigation, that without Comey the investigation would proceed anyway. McGa

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

3, 109, 188, 264-65, 288, 296, 304-5 May, Theresa, 258 McCain, John, 112, 306 McCarthy, Joe, 73 McConnell, Mitch, 32, 117, 301-2 McCormick, John, 167 McGahn, Don, 95, 212-14, 217 McLaughlin, John, 10 McMaster, H. R., 109, 176, 185, 188-93, 211, 235, 258, 263-68, 276-77, 288-89, 298-99, 304-5 McNerney, Jim

v. City of New York, "a case involving a New York City gun control law, saying the GOP- appointed majority is too tainted to deliver a valid ruling." Whitehouse argued, "The Supreme Court is not well. And the people know it. Perhaps the court can heal itself before the public demands it be 'restructured in o

use Judiciary Committee of "judge shopping" in an effort to get a favorable ruling to enforce its subpoena of former White House counsel Don McGahn. McGahn defied the subpoena in May and the committee filed a lawsuit in US District Court to enforce it. When the suit was filed, the committee "argued that

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

ouglas N. Letter arguing last week's opening of the hearings before the House Intelligence Committee was grounds for urgency. ... William A. Burck, McGahn's attorney, has said that McGahn will abide by EFTA00046532 the president's instructions absent a court reversal." Republicans are running throug

p didn’t want a chief of staff who would focus him. Trump, it was clear, didn’t want a chief of staff who would tell him anything. Trump did not want a White House that ran by any method other than to satisfy his desires. Someone happened to mention that John E Kennedy didn’t have a chief of staff, and now Trump

ling, mocking, falsetto-voice mimicry, and, as well, sweeping disparagements of his purpose and usefulness. “This is why we can’t have nice things,” McGahn uttered almost obses- sively under his breath, quoting the Taylor Swift song to comment on whatever egregious act Trump had just committed (“ . . bec

ake Bentonville, Arkansas, where Walmart had its headquarters, over Washington, D.C. For a generation or more, the arm’s-length relationship between the White House and the Department of Justice often seemed more like a never-ending conflict between armed camps. Bill Clinton could hardly stomach his attorney gene