NIKKI HALEY/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Riding a van back to Mar-a-Lago after a news conference this week, White House officials told economic adviser Lawrence Kudlow that he had just said something bound to produce some unwanted headlines. Mr. Kudlow had suggested that Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, suffered ‘momentary confusion’ when she said on TV over the weekend that the U.S. was poised to slap Russia with new sanctions. Ms. Haley hadn’t been told those plans had changed—something Mr. Kudlow didn’t know until later. Initially, Mr. Kudlow didn’t believe he had given offense, a White House official recalled. Later, when White House Chief of Staff John Kelly showed him Ms. Haley’s terse response—’With all due respect, I don’t get confused’—Mr. Kudlow quickly called her to apologize. But the dust-up became a diversion during the U.S.-Japan summit that ended on Thursday [4-19-18]. Mr. Kudlow’s start underscores the challenges of working in a White House with little message discipline and a president who likes to improvise.”
–Peter Nicholas and Nick Timiraos, “Lawrence Kudlow’s Uneasy Transition From TV to White House Reality,” The Wall Street Journal, April 20, 2018 5:30 am