Epstein Secrets

curious Trump subtext. Trump’s brutish father was an often vocal anti-Semite. In the split in New York real estate between the Jews and non-Jews, the Trumps were clearly on the lesser side. The Jews were white shoe, and Donald Trump, even more than his father, was perceived as a vulgarian—after all, he pu

resident. Pence started nearly every speech saying, “I bring greetings from our forty-fifth HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_019977 president of the United States, Donald J. Trump ...”—a salutation directed more to the president than to the audience. Pence cast himself as blandly uninteresting, sometimes barely seeming to exis

had a meaningful discussion in his life about health insurance. “No one in the country, or on earth, has given less thought to health insurance than Donald,” said Roger Ailes. Pressed in a campaign interview about the importance of Obamacare repeal and reform, Trump was, to say the least, quite unsure of

en a new sort of centrism, as inimical to Bannonism as it was possible to conceive, could emerge. Bannon’s pronouncements about a fifty-year rule for Trumpism might then be supplanted by the rule of Jared, Ivanka, and Goldman Sachs. By the end of March, this was the side that was winning. Bannon’s efforts

House had now all but been united under the president’s family. His son-in-law and daughter hoped—they were even confident—that they could speak to DJT’s better self, or at least balance Republican needs with progressive rationality, compassion, and good works. Further, they could support this modera

together, and what this election shows, and what President Trump showed, and let’s not kid ourselves, I can talk a

tacts with Trump associates. The story went on: Mr. Trump has denied that his campaign had any contact with

OVERSIGHT_019977 president of the United States, Donald J. Trump ...”—a salutation directed more to the pres

l people without clearly monetizable reputations before their association with Trump—were, for better or worse, hitched to him. (Even among dedicated Trumpers there was always a certain amount of holding their breath and constant reexamination of their options.) But those within the larger circle of White H

lable Republican rectitude, Ryan was the official last, best hope of the Republican Party. (Bannon, typically, had turned this trope into an official Trumpist talking point: “Ryan was created in a petri dish at the Heritage Foundation.”’) If the Republican Party had been moved further right by the Tea Party

hed as anyone—a kind of Stepford factotum, as absolutely dedicated to and tolerant of Mr. Trump as anyone who had ever worked for him. Shortly after Lewandowski, with whom Hicks had an on-and-off romantic relationship, was fired in June 2016 for clashing with Trump family members, Hicks sat in Trump Tower wit

d everybody’s disbelieving looks, the president seemed HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_019905 intent on surrounding himself in the White House with his family. The Trumps, all of them —except for his wife, who, mystifyingly, was staying in New York—were moving in, all of them set to assume responsibilities similar to t

me when it had borders. When America was great. Trump had become the platform for that message. By that January evening, Bannon had been immersed in Donald Trump’s world for almost five months. And though he had accumulated a sizable catalogue of Trump’s peculiarities, and cause enough for possible alarm about t

ked Trump’s impact and his shamelessness. “He just keeps going,” Ailes had marveled to a friend after the first debate with Hillary Clinton. “You hit Donald along the head, and he keeps going. He doesn’t even know he’s been hit.” But Ailes was convinced that Trump had no political beliefs or backbone. Th

rtly after eight o’clock that evening, when the unexpected trend—Trump might actually win—seemed confirmed, Don Jr. told a friend that his father, or DJT, as he called him, looked as if he had seen a ghost. Melania, to whom Donald Trump had made his solemn guarantee, was in tears—and not of joy. There

ncies and personnel responsible for enforcing it, President Trump—with Bannon’s low, intense voice behind him, offe

streamed on a laptop in the transition offices. “Mr. Trump said he’s never once listened to a whole Obama sp

lism, of people knowing too much who were defeated by all the complexities and conflicting interests before they began. Trump, knowing little, might, Trumpers tried to believe, give a kooky new hope to the system. Jared Kushner in quite a short period of time—trather less than a year—had crossed over from

, namely that these kinds of events—Trump sitting down with serious-minded people and looking for solutions to the nation’s problems—were the soul of Trump’s White House and the media was giving them scant coverage. Hosting business advisory councils was a Kushner strategy. It was an enlightened business

g as much policy as possible to Capitol Hill. In the early weeks of the administration, Priebus arranged for House Speaker Paul Ryan, however much a Trumpist béte noire for much of the campaign, to come into the White House with a group of ranking committee chairmen. In the meeting, the president blithely

e candidate. For months Trump called him “the worst,” and in June 2016 he was finally fired. Ever after, Trump proclaimed his campaign doomed without Lewandowski. “We’re all losers,” he would say. “All our guys are terrible, nobody knows what they’re doing... . Wish Corey was back.” Trump quickly soured on his

virtue. If every new event canceled out every other event, like some wacky news-cycle pyramid scheme, then you always survived another day. OOK Ok Donald Trump’s sons, Don Jr., thirty-nine, and Eric, thirty-three, existed in an enforced infantile relationship to their father, a role that embarrassed them, but

nothing. And yet, OMG!!! There almost was no other story in America—and in much of the world. That was the radical and transformational nature of the Trump presidency: it held everybody’s attention. Inside the White House, the daily brouhaha and world’s fascination was no cause for joy. It was, in the W

nning his company. Of course, quite a good amount of their professional time was spent on the whims, projects, promotions, and general way of life of DJT. One benefit of their father’s run for president was that it kept him away from the office. Still, the campaign’s administration was largely their r

the other hand, he wanted Jarvanka to go. And that became an effective ultimatum. 7 OK Ok At lunch on August 8, in the Clubhouse at Bedminster—amid Trumpish chandeliers, golf trophies, and tournament plaques—the president was flanked by Tom Price, the secretary of health and human services, and his wife,

rlie, 309 Rosen, Hillary, 78 Rosenstein, Rod, 212, 214, 216-21, 279 Ross, Wilbur, 78, 133, 229-30 Roth, Steven, 27, 141 Rove, Karl, 57, 238 Rumsfeld, Donald, 27 Russia, 24, 37-39, 92, 151-56, 160, 190-91, 236-46, 273, 303, 307-8 Bannon on, 6—7, 238-40, 278-83 Comey and, 168-70, 210-20, 242, 244-45 Don Jr.

is would be the lasting conundrum of dealing with President Trump: the “why” of his often baffling behavior. “The

grim. “Does he ever smile?” asked Trump, who had already begun to think that he had somehow been tricked into the hire. HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_020101 Some Trumpers, particularly those with over-the-transom access to the president, believed that he had been tricked into some form of very-much-not-Trump submission

about whether the president’s situation was bad, but whether it was Twenty-Fifth-Amendment bad. OOK Ok To Bannon, if not to Trump, the linchpin of Trumpism was China. The story of the next generation, he believed, had been written, and it was about war with China. Commercial war, trade war, cultural war,

itself. By late spring 2016, when the nomination was all but clinched, the Trump campaign was a set of competing power centers with the knives out. Lewandowski regarded both brothers and their brother-in-law with rolling-on-the-floor contempt: not only were Don Jr. and Eric stupid, and Jared somehow both sup

ng. The Pocono (PA) Record <http://www.poconorecord.comistory/news/2020/11/12/stroudsburg-woman-sentenced- for-drug-trafficking/6269703002/> (11/12, McDonald, 51K) reports a federal judge has sentenced Pennsylvania resident Jennifer Annette Bush to 13 months in prison "and a three-year term of supervised

nytimes.com/live/2020/11/12/us/joe-biden-trump> (11/12, Sanger, Stevens, Perlroth, 18.61M) reports that the statement came "directly from one of Mr. Trump's own cabinet agencies." It "also came as a previously unified Republican Party showed signs of cracking on the question of whether to keep backing

claims of widespread fraud advanced by President Donald Trump and many of his supporters." A statement d

an acknowledgment of the election results despite President Trump's insistence that he will win." Senate Majority

rts that the statement came "directly from one of Mr. Trump's own cabinet agencies." It "also came as a prev

sis: Afghan Officials Do Not Expect Biden To Stop Trump's Troop Withdrawal. • Five Americans, Two Others K

abs are doing everything they can to eke out whatever additional capacity they can, but they are limited by supplies and in some cases test kits." Lewandowski Tests Positive For COVID. USA Today <https://www.usatoday.corn/story/news/politics/elections/2020/11/12/corey-lewandowski-top- adviser-trump-tests-p

ered in the 2016 election." The New York Times (11/12, Sanger, Stevens, Perlroth, 18.61M) reports that the statement came "directly from one of Mr. Trump's own cabinet agencies." It "also came as a previously unified Republican Party showed signs of cracking on the question of whether to keep backing

claims of widespread fraud advanced by President Donald Trump and many of his supporters." A statement di

anger than the left-wing anarchists oft cited by President Trump and Attorney General William Barr." Hunt conclud

ts that the statement came "directly from one of Mr. Trump's own cabinet agencies." It "also came as a prev

sis: Afghan Officials Do Not Expect Biden To Stop Trump's Troop Withdrawal. • Five Americans, Two Others K

in connection with Montgomery's murder-for-hire." Pennsylvania Woman Gets 13 Months In Prison For Drug Trafficking. The Pocono (PA) Record (11/12, McDonald, 51K) reports a federal judge has sentenced Pennsylvania resident Jennifer Annette Bush to 13 months in prison "and a three-year term of supervised

abs are doing everything they can to eke out whatever additional capacity they can, but they are limited by supplies and in some cases test kits." Lewandowski Tests Positive For COVID. USA Today (11/12, Fritze, Santucci, 10.31M) reports Trump campaign adviser Corey Lewandowski "has tested positive for COV

in connection with Montgomery's murder-for-hire." Pennsylvania Woman Gets 13 Months In Prison For Drug Trafficking. The Pocono (PA) Record (11/12, McDonald, 51K) reports a federal judge has sentenced Pennsylvania resident Jennifer Annette Bush to 13 months in prison "and a three-year term of supervised

ered in the 2016 election." The New York Times (11/12, Sanger, Stevens, Perlroth, 18.61M) reports that the statement came "directly from one of Mr. Trump's own cabinet agencies." It "also came as a previously unified Republican Party showed signs of cracking on the question of whether to keep backing

claims of widespread fraud advanced by President Donald Trump and many of his supporters." A statement di

anger than the left-wing anarchists oft cited by President Trump and Attorney General William Barr." Hunt conclud

ts that the statement came "directly from one of Mr. Trump's own cabinet agencies." It "also came as a prev

sis: Afghan Officials Do Not Expect Biden To Stop Trump's Troop Withdrawal. • Five Americans, Two Others K

abs are doing everything they can to eke out whatever additional capacity they can, but they are limited by supplies and in some cases test kits." Lewandowski Tests Positive For COVID. EFTA01658762 USA Today (11/12, Fritze, Santucci, 10.31M) reports Trump campaign adviser Corey Lewandowski "has tested p

MUELLER 6o 6. MICHAEL COHEN 75 7. THE WOMEN 88 8. MICHAEL FLYNN 99 9. MIDTERMS 113 10. KUSHNER 125 11. HANNITY 1 43 12. TRUMP ABROAD 156 13. TRUMP AND PUTIN 169 EFTA00316513 x CONTENTS 14.100 DAYS 185 15. MANAPORT 196 16. PECKER, COHEN, WEISSELBERG 209 17. MCCAIN, WOODWARD, ANONYMOUS 223

S 257 21. NOVEMBER 6 268 22. SHUTDOWN 282 23. THE WALL 295 EPILOGUE: THE REPORT 309 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 317 INDEX 319 Author's Note Shortly after Donald Trump's inauguration as the forty-fifth president of the United States, I was allowed into the West Wing as a sideline observer. My book Fire and Fury was

ENTS 317 INDEX 319 Author's Note Shortly after Donald Trump's inauguration as the forty-fifth president

7 INDEX 319 Author's Note Shortly after Donald Trump's inauguration as the forty-fifth president of the

tember budget bill. The next time it carne up, the Wall would be funded or, he threatened, the government would be shut down. Even the hardest-core Trumpers in Congress seemed content not to have to die on the actual battlefield of funding the Wall, since that would mean embracing or at least enduring a

t the damaging impact his former wives could have on his security review, he recruited Dravis to help him smooth his relationship with both women. Lewandowski, Hicks's former boyfriend, caught wind of the Hicks- Porter relationship and began working to expose it; by some reports, he got paparazzi to follow

ist Stephen K. Bannon and the appointment of retired general John Kelly as chief of staff. This new account begins in February 2018 at the outset of Trumps second year in office, with the situation now profoundly altered. The pres- ident’s capricious furies have been met by an increasingly organized and

PRISES 257 21. NOVEMBER 6 268 22. SHUTDOWN 282 23. THE WALL 295 EPILOGUE: THE REPORT 309 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 317 INDEX 319 Author’s Note Shortly after Donald Trump’s inauguration as the forty-fifth president of the United States, I was allowed into the West Wing as a sideline observer. My book Fire and Fury was th

out the damaging impact his former wives could have on his security review, he recruited Dravis to help him smooth his relationship with both women. Lewandowski, Hicks’s former boyfriend, caught wind of the Hicks- Porter relationship and began working to expose it; by some reports, he got paparazzi to follow

sident that he could continue to provide him with valuable help. To no avail: on March 22, Dowd reluc- tantly resigned, sending another bitter former Trumper into the world. = THE DO-OVER he day John Dowd was fired, Steve Bannon was sitting at his dinin; room table trying to forestall another threat to

Yu as Sent: 12/17/2016 2:43:49 AM To: jeffrey E. [[email protected]] Subject: Fwd: Schulte Research: Deep dives into PRC fin tech ownership and Trump cabinet ownership. (DO NOT FORWARD) Attachments: mime-attachment.png; mime-attachment.gif; mime-attachment.jpg Importance: — High See the attached.

or designate. HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_026038 --- PAGE BREAK --- C. Advisors are ALL Koch-related. Here is where it gets fun. Former campaign advisor Corey Lewandowski came from KochLand. Rebekah Mercer is part of Koch and and gave $2.5 mn to Freedom Partners. Kellyanne Conway has connections to Pence from way back

ino Yu Sent: 12/17/2016 12:35:06 PM To: jeffrey E. [[email protected]] Subject: Re: Schulte Research: Deep dives into PRC fin tech ownership and Trump cabinet ownership. (DO NOT FORWARD) Attachments: mime-attachment.png; mime-attachment.gif; mime-attachment.jpg Importance: — High Good. Sorting ou

ry)? Governor Nikki Haley who is UN Ambassador designate. C. Advisors are ALL Koch-related. Here is where it gets fun. Former campaign advisor Corey Lewandowski came from KochLand. Rebekah Mercer is part of Koch and and gave $2.5 mn to Freedom Partners. Kellyanne Conway has connections to Pence from way back