Epstein Secrets

dence, believing that he had). And so it was with Director Comey. In their several meetings since he took office—

ni. He believed they would both perform kamikaze acts for him—yjust as everyone else knew they would almost certainly never be confirmed. OOK Ok As James Comey’s testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee approached—it would take place on June 8, twelve days after the presidential traveling party retur

ng investigation and is classified I cannot say more about what we are doing and whose conduct we are examining. He had, however, said quite enough. Comey converted rumor, leaks, theory, innuendo, and pundit hot air—and until this moment that was all there was, at best the hope of a scandal—into a forma

as not only known by people outside the White House for the alacrity with which it returned calls and for the ease with which it seemed to accomplish West Wing tasks, it also seemed to be comprised of people who liked each other and who were dedicated to a common goal: eliminating as much friction as possibl

n Sachs, too, that in the middle of a Republican-controlled Washington and a virulent, if not anti-Semitic (at least toward liberal Jews), right-wing West Wing, the Kushner-Cohn Democrats appeared to be ascendant. Part of the credit went to Kushner, who showed an unexpected tenacity. Conflict averse—in the K

RVANKA 6. AT HOME 7. RUSSIA 8. ORG CHART 9. CPAC 10. GOLDMAN 11. WIRETAP 12. REPEAL AND REPLACE 13. BANNON AGONISTES 14. SITUATION ROOM 15. MEDIA 16. COMEY 17. ABROAD AND AT HOME 18. BANNON REDUX 19. MIKA WHO? 20. MCMASTER AND SCARAMUCCI 21. BANNON AND SCARAMUCCI HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_019879 22. GENERAL KEL

urvived the release of the Billy Bush tape when, in the uproar that followed, the RNC had had the gall to pressure him to quit the race. FBI director James Comey, having bizarrely hung Hillary out to dry by saying he was reopening the investigation into her emails eleven days before the election, had helped av

t something. Everything. The billionaires had to rethink. So did everyone in the Trump orbit. The campaign staff, now suddenly in a position to snag West Wing jobs—career- and history-making jobs—had to see this odd, difficult, even ridiculous, and, on the face of it, ill-equipped person in a new light. He

he newly appointed deputy chief of staff, Katie Walsh, Reince Priebus’s deputy at the RNC, and together they had peeled off to inspect the now vacant West Wing. The carpet had been shampooed, but little else had changed. It was a warren of tiny offices in need of paint, not rigorously cleaned on a regular ba

ical question. He insisted on an answer, and affirmative one: "Mr. President, you're not a target?' Early in his tenu Trump had pushed FBI director James Comey to provide precisely tl reassurance. In one of the signature moves of his presidency, he had fir Comey in May 2017 in part because he wasn't satisf

es of his presidency, he had fir Comey in May 2017 in part because he wasn't satisfied with the enth siasm of the affirmation and therefore assumed Comey was plotti against him. Whether the president was indeed a target—and it would surely he taken a through-the-looking-glass exercise not to see him

ct ... but we live in a world of imperfect." * * * Costa's story, which was posted online later that day, described Bannon as "pitching a plan to West Wing aides and congressional allies to cripple the federal probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election, according to four people familiar with

fend Sessions, and who believed that he had militantly— indeed with scathing attacks on the Jarvankas for their stupidity—walled himself off from the Comey smashup, was now suddenly getting calls from reporters with leaks that painted him as an engaged participant in the Comey decision. In a furious pho

Republican Party had now become the symbol of its civil war. On that Monday, the president’s son-in-law appeared at the microphones in front of the West Wing to preview his statement to Senate investigators about the Trump campaign’s connections to Russia. Having almost never spoken before in public, he no

l influence with the president, but important members of the staff saw them as having this juice, and hence believed that they were the true north of West Wing advancement and power. Curiously, for all their callowness, Jared and Ivanka had become quite a fearsome presence, as feared by others as the two of

ency buffeted by recriminations over those two politically charged investigations after Mr. Trump in spring 2017 fired the FBI's former director, Comey ... Where Mr. Comey embraced a public persona, Mr. Wray has continued to maintain an unassuming and detail-oriented persona, bent on avoiding the s

"Yeah, but I won't be here," he reportedly said. Lately, the president has been recounting the advice he got from McConnell about spending money to West Wing aides. Two people with direct knowledge confirmed to my colleagues recently that the Kentucky Republican delivered that message during a private ph

orical question. He insisted on an answer, and affirmative one: “Mr. President, you're not a target.” Early in his tenu Trump had pushed FBI director James Comey to provide precisely tl reassurance. In one of the signature moves of his presidency, he had fir Comey in May 2017 in part because he wasn't satisfie

n his tenu Trump had pushed FBI director James Comey to provide precisely tl reassurance. In one of the signature moves of his presidency, he had fir Comey in May 2017 in part because he wasn't satisfied with the enth siasm of the affirmation and therefore assumed Comey was plotti against him. Whether t

perfect . . . but we live in a world of imperfect” + Costa’s story, which was posted online later that day, described Bannon as “pitching a plan to West Wing aides and congressional allies to cripple the federal probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election, according to four people familiar with th