Epstein Secrets

torture, the surprising liberalism of generals, and the stupidity of the civilian-military bureaucracy. Then it was on to the looming appointment of Michael Flynn—a favorite Trump general who’d been the opening act at many Trump rallies—as the National Security Advisor. “He’s fine. He’s not Jim Mattis and he’s

r. Bolton was an Ailes favorite, too. “He’s a bomb thrower,” said Ailes. “And a strange little fucker. But you need him. Who else is good on Israel? Flynn is a little nutty on Iran. Tillerson”—the secretary of state designate—“just knows oil.” HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_019885 “Bolton’s mustache is a problem,” s

the National Security Advisor. “Yes,” she said, “General Flynn does enjoy the full confidence of the president.”

r Stone, was noisily ousted by Lewandowski, and then Trump exponentially increased the public dirty-clothes-washing by suing Nunberg. Lewandowski and Hope Hicks, the PR aide put on the campaign by Ivanka Trump, had an affair that ended in a public fight on the street—an incident cited by Nunberg in his respon

AUTHOR'S NOTE XI 1. BULLSEYE 1 2. THE DO-OVER 21 3. LAWYERS 38 4. HOME ALONE 50 5. ROBERT 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 1

6. MICHAEL COHEN 75 7. THE WOMEN 88 8. MICHAEL FLYNN 99 9. MIDTERMS 113 10. KUSHNER 125 11. HANNITY

affel, who, like Kushn was a Democrat, had worked for Hiltzik Strategies, the New York Pub relations firm that represented ivanka's clothing line. Hope Hicks, who had also worked for the Hiltzik firm—perhaps b known for having long represented the film producer Harvey Weinste caught, in the fall of 2017,

Russia as they were working=to elect him president. 3) Flynn dire=tly influenced White House policy in a pro-Turkey direction after Turkey paid him Michael T. Flynn, who was forced to resign a= Trump's national security adviser, is the opposite of the gift that keeps on giving. He'= the infestation that no exter

16 election" ' * "House majority leader told colleagues last year: 'I think Putin pays' Trump" =p class="gmail-MsaistParagraphCxSpMiddle"> * * "Flynn stopped military plan Turkey opposed — =fter being paid as its agent" 4). "Trump Team Knew Flynn Was Under Investigation Before He Came to White Ho

=ere's a sampling: "There wa= no communication between the campaign and any foreign entity during the campaign." =E244, Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks in November "The campaign had no cont=ct with Russian officials." — Hicks, also in November<=span> "This i= a nonstory because, to the best of our

And, just as basically: The enemy of my enemy is my friend. If Trump had one fixed point of reference in the Middle East, it was—mostly courtesy of Michael Flynn’s tutoring —that Iran was the bad guy. Hence everybody opposed to Iran was a pretty good guy. After the election, MBS had reached out to Kushner. In t

o, for the most part, were skilled in the new army jargon of PowerPoint, data dumps, and McKinsey-like presentations. One of the things that endeared Flynn to the president was that Flynn, quite the conspiracist and drama queen, had a vivid storytelling sense. By the time of the Syrian attack on Khan Sh

d. It was a turning point. Until now, Trump’s inner circle had been mostly game to defend him. But after the wiretap tweets, everybody, save perhaps Hope Hicks, moved into a state of queasy sheepishness, if not constant incredulity. Sean Spicer, for one, kept repeating his daily, if not hourly, mantra: “You

disciplined man in politics. It was clear where Mueller and his team were going, said Bannon: they would trace a money trail through Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn, Michael Cohen, and Jared Kushner and roll one or all of them on the president. It's Shakespearean, he said, enumerating the bad advice from his fam

and, 169-70, 211-15, 217-18, 232-33, 245-46, 261 CPAC and, 126-34 eve of inauguration and, 4-10 first weeks of presidency and, 52-55, 60-65, 67-70 Flynn and, 95, 103, 106 immigration and, 61-65, 77, 113 inauguration and, 42-43, 148 influence of, 70, 85, 108-10, 188 isolationism of, 227 Israel and

gton, Sean Spicer and everybody else from the communications office was relegated to the back of the plane and excluded from the panicky discussions. Hope Hicks became the senior communications strategist, with the president, as always, her singular client. In the days following, that highest political state

festival in Gilroy, Calif. Allyson Chiu, Meagan Flynn and Faiz Siddiqui report: "One gunman was killed

will never get out? During two interviews with FBI agents and members of Bob Mueller's team last year, former White House communications director Hope Hicks recounted the president's reaction to the discovery of damning emails about the meeting his son Donald Trump Jr., son-in-law Jared Kushner and camp

Contents AUTHOR’S NOTE XI 1. BULLSEYE 1 2. THE DO-OVER 21 3. LAWYERS 38 4. HOME ALONE 50 5. ROBERT MUELLER 60 6. MICHAEL COHEN 75 7. THE WOMEN 88 8. MICHAEL FLYNN 99 9. MIDTERMS 113 10. KUSHNER 125 11. HANNITY 143 12. TRUMP ABROAD 156 13. TRUMP AND PUTIN 169 HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_021121 --- PAGE BREAK --- CONTENT

60 6. MICHAEL COHEN 75 7. THE WOMEN 88 8. MICHAEL FLYNN 99 9. MIDTERMS 113 10. KUSHNER 125 11. HANNITY 14

who was anywhere near it. + + + The ultimate keeper of the secrets from the campaign, the transition, through the first year in the White House was Hope Hicks, the W House communications director. She had witnessed most everyth HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_021126 --- PAGE BREAK --- 6 MICHAEL WOLFF She saw what the p