2016 ELECTION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “A fierce internal rivalry is unfolding at the White House over the communications director job, with some aides warning they will quit depending on whom President Donald Trump chooses to fill the post. No senior position in the White House has seen as much volatility as communications director. Four people […]
Category: A- Trump People
3/26/2018
FOREIGN POLICY/NATIONAL SECURITY/REX TILLERSON/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “President Donald Trump has, to great fanfare, remade his national-security team in recent days. But the most intriguing and consequential member of that team isn’t one of the newcomers, but rather the one who has been there all along: Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. Mr. Mattis is the most […]
3/26/2018
CYBERWAR/PAUL RYAN/RUSSIA/TRUMP PEOPLE: “The former head of a federal agency helping U.S. states protect election systems from hackers has been hired for a similar role within the Trump administration after being passed up for reappointment by Republican Speaker Paul Ryan and the White House. Matthew Masterson, a member of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission who […]
3/25/2018
TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “.@HowieCarrShow just wrote a book which everyone is talking about. He was a great help. He is a veteran journalist who had a great influence in NH and beyond. He calls it the most amazing political campaign of modern times. The book is called, ‘What Really Happened.’” Enjoy! #MAGA https://t.co/jYhjpoJKHe –Donald […]
3/25/2018
DAVID SHULKIN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “President Donald Trump indicated this weekend to associates he is preparing to oust Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin, a source familiar with the conversations confirmed to CNN. CNN’s Jeff Zeleny has reported two officials said Shulkin remains the most vulnerable cabinet member. The announcement could happen as early as this […]
3/23/2018
IRAN/NATIONAL SECURITY/NORTH KOREA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “President Donald Trump’s shakeup of his national security team adds to the burden on one man at the center of any decision about war and peace: Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. Long a champion of alliances and diplomacy, Mattis increasingly finds himself surrounded by policy hawks on issues from Iran […]
3/23/2018
GARY COHN/MCMASTER/MIKE POMPEO/REX TILLERSON/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway’s warning to those who want to work in the White House is simple: ‘Get with the program or get out.’ ‘If you are not with the program, you should get with the program or get out,’ Conway said Friday [3-23-18] in an […]
3/23/2018
IRAN/NATIONAL SECURITY/NORTH KOREA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “In picking John Bolton as national security adviser, President Donald Trump appears to have found a longtime Washington hand who is in step with his views on major national-security issues, including objections to the Iran nuclear agreement, the need to stop North Korea’s nuclear program and an ‘America First’-driven […]
3/23/2018
CIA/JOHN MCCAIN/TORTURE/TRUMP PEOPLE: “U.S. Senator John McCain on Friday pressed President Donald Trump’s nominee to be CIA director, Gina Haspel, for information about her ties to the agency’s past use of harsh interrogation techniques, underscoring challenges she faces winning confirmation.Trump nominated Haspel, currently Central Intelligence Agency deputy director, to become director last week. The announcement […]
3/23/2018
CONSUMER PROTECTION/LEGAL/TRUMP PEOPLE: “The top cop for U.S. consumer finance has decided not to sue a payday loan collector and is weighing whether to drop cases against three payday lenders, said five people with direct knowledge of the matter.The move shows how Mick Mulvaney, named interim head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) by […]
3/22/2018
IRAN/MCMASTER/NORTH KOREA/REX TILLERSON/RUSSIA/TRUMP PEOPLE: “President Donald Trump is replacing national security adviser H.R. McMaster with the former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, injecting a hawkish foreign policy voice into his administration ahead of key decisions on Iran and North Korea. Trump tweeted Thursday [3-22-18] that McMaster has done ‘an outstanding job & will always remain my […]
3/22/2018
ELECTION/GOP/PENNSYLVANIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “President Donald Trump said on Thursday [3-22-18] that although he knows he’s popular with voters, he doesn’t know whether his success will carry over to Republicans running for office in 2018. Trump described the energy at some of his recent events, saying that the ‘level of love’ during a recent speech […]
3/22/2018
MIKE POMPEO/REX TILLERSON/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Outgoing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called Washington a ‘very mean-spirited town’ in his goodbye address to State Department staff on Thursday [3-22-18]. ‘This can be a very mean spirited town,’ Tillerson said, as staff present at his remarks laughed and clapped. ‘But you don’t have to choose to participate in […]
3/21/2018
CDC/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “The Trump administration will appoint prominent HIV/AIDS researcher Robert Redfield to lead the CDC, administration officials announced Wednesday [3-21-18] amid new scrutiny of controversies surrounding his earlier research and views. Redfield, a clinical scientist and former Army doctor who co-founded the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland School […]
3/21/2018
GOP/SENATE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/ TRUMP PEOPLE: “White House officials this week told Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant that President Donald Trump did not plan to campaign for or endorse Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith if she was appointed to the state’s open Senate seat, saying they were worried that the former Democrat would lose. Bryant responded that he intended […]
3/21/2018
2016 ELECTION/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “The U.S. has made significant strides in better protecting the election system after a Russian campaign of hacking and misinformation during the 2016 election, the Trump administration’s Homeland Security chief Congress on Wednesday [3-21-18]. Kirstjen Nielsen, the secretary of Homeland Security, testified to the Senate Intelligence Committee that information sharing […]
3/20/2018
BETSY DEVOS/BUDGET/EDUCATION/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Education Secretary Betsy DeVos will go before a House panel on Tuesday [3-20-18] to defend her agency’s budget, including a sweeping overhaul of the Education Department that has strained relations within her agency and with Congress — and defies the White House’s budget office. In recent weeks, Ms. DeVos has clashed fiercely […]
3/19/2018
MIKE POMPEO/REX TILLERSON/STATE/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Outgoing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is meeting with CIA Director Mike Pompeo, the man President Donald Trump has chosen to replace him. A State Department official says that Tillerson and Pompeo were sitting down at the department’s headquarters in Foggy Bottom. The official wasn’t authorized to comment by name and […]
3/19/2018
DEMS/DREAMERS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE/WALL:“The Koch network has a rare message for President Donald Trump: Take the Democrats’ immigration deal. A trio of organizations supported by Charles and David Koch is urging Trump to accept congressional Democrats’ weekend offer, which would deliver $25 billion for a border wall and security in exchange for a pathway to […]
3/19/2018
FBI/JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/LEGAL/ROBERT MUELLER/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Former federal prosecutor Joseph diGenova will join President Donald Trump’s legal team later this week, adding to the president’s Russia response another bulldog lawyer who argued earlier this year that Trump had been framed by the Justice Department and FBI with a falsely created crime…’ The addition of diGenova […]
3/16/2018
JOHN KELLY/REX TILLERSON/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “President Donald Trump and White House chief of staff John Kelly have settled on a truce, at least temporarily, as the latest round of staff tumult continues to ripple through the West Wing, according to people familiar with the discussions. Jarred by the treatment of former Secretary of State […]
3/16/2018
JOHN KELLY/REX TILLERSON/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “President Donald Trump and White House chief of staff John Kelly have settled on a truce, at least temporarily, as the latest round of staff tumult continues to ripple through the West Wing, according to people familiar with the discussions. Jarred by the treatment of former Secretary of State […]
3/16/2018
TARIFFS/TRADE DEALS/TRUMP PEOPLE: “When Peter Navarro needed financing for a documentary film on the dangers to the U.S. of China’s trade policy, he sought out Nucor Corp. , an American steel company. Nucor made payments to fund the film through a San Diego nonprofit then led by a friend of Mr. Navarro. The arrangement was […]
3/16/2018
CABINET/GOP/MIKE POMPEO/NOMINATIONS/RAND PAUL/REX TILLERSON/TRUMP PEOPLE: “The White House was hoping for a smooth 2018 on Capitol Hill. Instead, President Donald Trump is staring at two bitter confirmation fights — and the possibility emboldened Democrats could block his new Cabinet nominees. Trump’s decision to nominate CIA Director Mike Pompeo to replace Rex Tillerson at the State […]
3/15/2018
CABINET/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “In his first full cabinet meeting last June, President Trump invited a chorus of gushing praise from his top aides by boasting that he had assembled a ‘phenomenal team of people, a great group of talent.’ But in the nine months since then, Mr. Trump has fired or forced out a […]
3/15/2018
ECONOMY/GARY COHN/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Lawrence Kudlow is set to become the 11th person to serve as the director of the White House National Economic Council, replacing Gary Cohn. Mr. Cohn boosted the council’s effectiveness, compared to others in the Trump administration, in part because he delegated significant autonomy to the specialists on tax, finance, health care […]
3/14/2018
TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “The White House is bracing for more changes in the administration’s senior ranks following the recent departures of top officials including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Gary Cohn, director of the National Economic Council. President Donald Trump prefaced a further shuffle as he departed for California Tuesday [3-13-18]. ‘I’m really […]
3/14/2018
CIA/NOMINATIONS/RAND PAUL/STATE/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.) said Wednesday [3-14-18] he would oppose the nominations of Mike Pompeo to be secretary of state and Gina Haspel to lead the Central Intelligence Agency. The announcement by Mr. Paul, the first Republican to oppose either nominee, makes it likely that Democratic support will be needed for […]
3/14/2018
ECONOMY/TARIFFS/TRUMP PEOPLE: “President Donald Trump will name Larry Kudlow, the conservative media analyst who served as his informal economic adviser during the 2016 campaign, as the next head of the White House National Economic Council, two sources familiar with the decision tell CNN. Trump offered Kudlow the job Tuesday [3-13-18] night over the phone and […]
3/14/2018
ENERGY/RICK PERRY/TRUMP PEOPLE/VA: “President Donald Trump is considering replacing Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin with candidates including Energy Secretary Rick Perry, according to an administration official, after an inspector general’s report last month said Dr. Shulkin had misspent taxpayer money during an official trip to Europe last year. The official said the discussions of replacing […]
3/13/2018
CABINET/ETHICS/GOP/TRUMP PEOPLE/MICK MULVANEY: “When Mick Mulvaney left Congress to join President Donald Trump’s Cabinet in early 2017, he kept his re-election bank account alive and has spent more than $50,000 from it since, including donations to several Republican lawmakers the White House was lobbying. A watchdog group and a former Federal Election Commission official say […]
3/13/2018
CAMPAIGN/NATIONAL SECURITY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “President Donald Trump’s personal assistant, John McEntee, was escorted out of the White House on Monday [3-12-18], two senior administration officials said. The cause of the firing was an unspecified security issue, said a third White House official with knowledge of the situation. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders declined […]
3/12/2018
ETHICS/GOP/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “President Trump’s social media director, Dan Scavino Jr., posted a message on his government Twitter account calling for the defeat of a Republican congressman who had angered the president. His West Wing counselor, Kellyanne Conway, weighed in on the Alabama Senate race during television interviews from the White House lawn. His […]
3/11/2018
LOBBYING/POLITICS/TRUMP PEOPLE: “She’s a strategic adviser in President Donald Trump’s West Wing. He’s a lobbyist who moonlights as the head of the American Conservative Union, which hosts the annual Conservative Political Action Conference — a key gathering for Trump supporters. Meet Mercedes and Matt Schlapp, a power couple tailor-made for Trump’s Washington. … Now, Mercedes […]
3/9/2018
CABINET/ETHICS/TRUMP PEOPLE: “The White House held private meetings with four Cabinet-level officials last month to scold them for embarrassing stories about questionable ethical behavior at their respective agencies, sources familiar with the sessions tell CNN. Internal watchdogs have launched at least nine audits, reviews or investigations across several Cabinet agencies, and stories about first-class travel, […]
3/9/2018
LEGAL/PRESS SECRETARY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE/SARAH SANDERS/WOMEN: “President Donald Trump is upset with White House press secretary Sarah Sanders over her responses Wednesday [3-7-18] regarding his alleged affair with porn star Stormy Daniels, a source close to the White House tells CNN. … On Wednesday, Sanders told reporters that the arbitration was won ‘in the President’s […]
3/9/2018
2016 ELECTION/LEGAL/ROBERT MUELLER/RUSSIA/TRUMP PEOPLE: “President Donald Trump’s lawyers are seeking to negotiate a deal with special counsel Robert Mueller that uses an interview with the president as leverage to spur a conclusion to the Russia investigation, according to a person familiar with the discussions. The president’s legal team is considering telling Mr. Mueller that Mr. […]
3/9/2018
ETHICS/LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE/MICHAEL COHEN/WOMEN: “The lawyer handling the Stormy Daniels scandal for President Donald Trump’s corporate and personal representative, Michael Cohen, comes from the same small New York law firm that earned thousands of dollars from the Trump campaign at the end of last year. Cohen’s use of a law firm connected to Trump’s […]
3/9/2018
LEGAL/TRUMP PEOPLE/MICHAEL COHEN/WOMEN: “President Donald Trump’s personal attorney used his Trump Organization email while arranging to transfer money into an account at a Manhattan bank before he wired $130,000 to adult film star Stormy Daniels to buy her silence. The lawyer, Michael Cohen, also regularly used the same email account during 2016 negotiations with the […]
3/9/2018
NATIONAL SECURITY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “The White House is ignoring a bipartisan congressional inquiry regarding documents about the Rob Porter scandal, prompting the House Oversight Committee’s top Democrat to request that the White House be subpoenaed over the matter. The committee’s investigation into White House security clearances began after Porter, a former staff secretary, resigned […]
3/9/2018
2016 ELECTION/LEGAL/ROBERT MUELLER/RUSSIA/TRUMP PEOPLE/SAM NUNBERG: “Former Trump campaign aide Sam Nunberg, who threatened earlier this week to defy a subpoena from special counsel Robert Mueller, showed up Friday [3-9-18] morning at the federal courthouse in Washington, where he appeared set to answer prosecutors’ questions in the ongoing probe of alleged collusion between Trump aides and […]
3/9/2018
COMMERCE/TARIFFS/TRADE DEALS/TRUMP PEOPLE/WILBUR ROSS: “Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross says tariffs will be good for the American steel industry—just as they were for Mr. Ross himself during his business career. Profiting from such protectionist measures was a trademark of some of the biggest deals in Mr. Ross’s rise as an investor specializing in reviving and flipping […]
3/9/2018
LEGAL/ROBERT MUELLER/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE/SAM NUNBERG: “Former Donald Trump campaign aide Sam Nunberg, who had balked at testifying in the investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential campaign, appeared at the federal courthouse in Washington on Friday [3-9-18] as part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe. … Nunberg had been subpoenaed by the federal […]
3/8/2018
AUSTRALIA/CANADA/FOREIGN POLICY/MEXICO/TARIFFS/TRADE DEALS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE/GARY D. COHN: “President Trump defied opposition from his own party and protests from overseas on Thursday [3-8-18] as he signed an order imposing stiff and sweeping new tariffs on imported steel and aluminum. But he sought to soften the impact on America’s closest allies with a more flexible plan […]
3/8/2018
LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE/MICHAEL COHEN/WOMEN: “In the blur of news coming out of Washington, the legal maneuvers involving a pornographic film actress who says she had an affair with President Trump and the president’s lawyer who paid her hush money may seem like just another reality-show-ready spectacle at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. But the lawsuit she […]
3/8/2018
IMMIGRATION/NOMINATIONS/STATE/TRUMP PEOPLE: “A White House aide close to senior policy adviser Stephen Miller who has advocated strict limits on immigration into the U.S. has been selected for a top State Department post overseeing refugee admissions, according to current and former officials. Andrew Veprek’s appointment as a deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of Population, Refugees […]
3/8/2018
ETHICS/KELLYANNE CONWAY/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Kellyanne Conway said Thursday [3-8-18] she had spoken to President Donald Trump about a watchdog report that found her past remarks on the Alabama special election to be in violation of federal law, but the counselor to the president declined to say whether she would face disciplinary action over the ethics breach… […]
3/7/2018
2016 ELECTION/CAMPAIGN/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “One appointee went from ‘battleground states’ director for the Trump presidential campaign to a role at the State Department that sent him to South Africa to meet with health officials… And another, who spent four months on the campaign in New York after graduating from college, landed a job as […]
3/7/2018
GARY COHN/GOP/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Republicans in Congress who viewed Gary Cohn as their best ally in efforts to steer President Donald Trump away from a protectionist trade policy expressed concern over his departure Wednesday [3-7-18]. Mr. Cohn said Tuesday night he would resign after 14 months in the administration, where he served as director of the […]
3/6/2018
ECONOMY/GARY COHN/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Gary D. Cohn, President Trump’s top economic adviser, plans to resign, becoming the latest in a series of high-profile departures from the Trump administration, White House officials said on Tuesday [3-6-18]. The officials insisted there was no single factor behind the departure of Mr. Cohn, who heads the National Economic Council. But […]
3/6/2018
FAKE NEWS/MEDIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “President Donald Trump on Tuesday [3-6-18] denounced as ‘wrong’ reporting in recent days from multiple media outlets that his administration has descended into chaos, declaring that the West Wing is filled with ‘only great energy’ but conceding that ‘I still have some people that I want to change.’… The Trump […]
3/5/2018
LEGAL/TRUMP PEOPLE: “President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen complained to friends he had not been reimbursed for a six-figure payment to a porn star alleged to have had an affair with Trump, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday [3-5-18]. Cohen previously said in a statement that he had facilitated a payment to Stephanie Clifford, […]
3/5/2018
TRUMP PEOPLE/VA/VETS: “White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Monday [3-5-18] that the Trump administration continues to review a report from the Department of Veterans Affairs inspector general that found that Secretary David Shulkin misused taxpayer funds during a trip to Europe. ‘Secretary Shulkin has repaid, I know, several thousand dollars toward some of the […]
3/5/2018
BANKING/LEGAL/TREASURY/TRUMP PEOPLE: “The bank used by President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer to wire $130,000 to a former adult-film actress flagged the transaction as suspicious and reported it to the Treasury Department, according to a person familiar with the matter. The lawyer, Michael Cohen, wired the money to a lawyer for former actress Stephanie Clifford, known […]
3/4/2018
MCMASTER/NATIONAL SECURITY/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Even before he took the job last winter as President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster had a target on his back. He stepped into the role with lukewarm support from the president and outright resistance from high-ranking Trump loyalists who saw in Gen. McMaster the embodiment of the […]
3/4/2018
TARIFFS/TRADE DEALS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “The Trump administration is downplaying reports that White House chief economist Gary Cohn is planning to leave the West Wing because of frustrations over the implementation of steel and aluminum tariffs. After President Donald Trump announced the US would impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports last week, one person […]
3/2/2018
JOHN KELLY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “White House chief of staff John Kelly said he regretted his handling of the departure of Rob Porter, whose resignation last month resulted in an overhaul of security-clearance rules and played an indirect part in the confusion over the rollout of President Donald Trump’s new trade tariffs. When Mr. Porter […]
3/1/2018
ECONOMY/FOREIGN POLICY/GARY COHEN/TRADE DEALS/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Gary Cohn, President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser, has been rumored to be on the brink of leaving the White House for months but stayed for one main reason: to stop the president from imposing steep tariffs. By Thursday afternoon, Cohn had lost the fight. In a meeting with steel […]
3/1/2018
LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “President Donald Trump’s lawyers have urged him not to discuss details of the unfolding Russia investigation with anyone outside his legal team, warning of a conversational ‘bright line’ that could put aides and associates in legal jeopardy, according to current and former Trump aides. But Trump often ignores that legal advice […]
3/1/2018
FAKE NEWS/MCMASTER/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “The Trump administration batted down a new report on Thursday that national security adviser H.R. McMaster could be on his way out, with President Donald Trump telling a spokesman for the National Security Council that the article was ‘fake news.’… Raj Shah, the White House principal deputy press secretary, also […]
3/1/2018
TRUMP PEOPLE: “Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci said Thursday [3-1-18] that chief of staff John Kelly is running the West Wing through a culture of fear and predicted more departures from the White House are to come, adding that ‘morale is terrible.’… Scaramucci — who was ousted from his position over the summer […]
2/28/2018
LEGAL/NONTRUTHS/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Hope Hicks, the White House communications director and one of President Trump’s longest-serving advisers, said Wednesday [2-28-18] that she was resigning. Ms. Hicks, 29, a former model who joined Mr. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign without any experience in politics, became known as one of the few aides who understood his personality and style […]
2/28/2018
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Three top Justice Department officials were spotted dining together at an upscale Washington restaurant on Wednesday [2-28-18] night, according to a source who saw them there. The source said Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Solicitor General Noel Francisco ate at Central Michel Richard, which is almost across […]
2/28/2018
NATIONAL SECURITY/TRUMP PEOPLE: “One of the White House’s most important diplomats happens to be an artist — with a top secret security clearance. That means the chief White House calligrapher now has greater access to sensitive information than White House adviser — and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law — Jared Kushner. Scrutiny over White House clearances in […]
2/27/2018
INTELLIGENCE/LEGAL/NONTRUTHS/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Hope Hicks, the White House communications director, told House investigators on Tuesday [2-27-18] that her work for President Trump, who has a reputation for exaggerations and outright falsehoods, had occasionally required her to tell white lies. But after extended consultation with her lawyers, she insisted that she had not lied about matters material […]
2/27/2018
TRUMP FAMILY/TRUMP PEOPLE: “A top White House communications aide who has worked most closely with Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump is leaving the White House in the coming months. Josh Raffel, who was recruited to the White House by Kushner, has primarily served as a spokesman for Ivanka Trump and Kushner’s White House initiatives, including […]
2/27/2018
2016 ELECTION/INTELLIGENCE/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “White House Communications Director Hope Hicks, testifying before a House committee investigating Russia’s role in the 2016 election, discussed the presidential campaign but declined to answer questions about her work as one of President Donald Trump’s most trusted advisers, lawmakers said. After hearing her refusal, Democrats on the House Intelligence […]
2/27/2018
2016 ELECTION/CAMPAIGN/LEGAL/ROBERT MUELLER/RUSSIA/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Former Donald Trump campaign deputy Rick Gates is quickly discovering that cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller has its advantages. The lead Russia investigator asked a federal court in Alexandria, Virginia Tuesday [2-27-18] to dismiss a series of criminal charges against Gates, including tax and bank fraud, in exchange for his […]
2/27/2018
2016 ELECTION/ROBERT MUELLER/RUSSIA/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Top White House aide Hope Hicks will appear before House investigators Tuesday [2-27-18], and lawmakers say they haven’t been told to expect any restrictions on her testimony in the intelligence panel’s probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Rep. Mike Conaway of Texas, the Republican leading the investigation, said that […]
2/23/2018
LEGAL/RUSSIA/TRUMP PEOPLE: “A former top adviser to Donald J. Trump’s presidential campaign indicted by the special counsel was expected to plead guilty as soon as Friday [2-23-18] afternoon, according to two people familiar with his plea agreement, a move that signals he is cooperating with the investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. The […]
2/22/2018
CLIMATE CHANGE/ENERGY/TRUMP PEOPLE: “The White House’s senior adviser on energy and climate change stepped down last week after being denied a full security clearance for smoking marijuana about five years ago. Now he is speaking his mind about the Paris climate agreement that President Trump has disavowed. ‘I’m going to say something controversial,’ the former […]
2/22/2018
JOHN KELLY/MCMASTER/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Longstanding friction between U.S. President Donald Trump and two top aides, the National Security Adviser and the Chief of Staff, has grown to a point that either or both might quit soon, four senior administration officials said. Both H.R. McMaster and John Kelly are military men considered by U.S. political […]
2/22/2018
NATIONAL SECURITY/TRUMP PEOPLE: “From speeding to pot smoking to, in one case, ownership of a Canadian brewery, rank-and-file government employees often see their security clearances challenged, denied or revoked for issues they consider relatively minor. Which makes them all the more frustrated to see White House staffers with major red flags in their backgrounds given […]
2/20/2018
FBI/GUNS/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “White House press secretary Sarah Sanders tried to finesse a weekend tweet from President Donald Trump blaming the FBI’s Russia investigation for missing a tip about the Florida shooting, saying the agency should not focus on a ‘hoax in terms of investigating the Trump campaign.’… Sanders, speaking to reporters Tuesday in […]
2/15/2018
MEDIA/TRUMP PEOPLE: “By the time the furor over a presidential aide accused of spousal abuse reached week two, the White House account of what happened became less clear, not more. The contradictions were multiplying. The daily news briefing was filled with caveats… The rule of thumb for crisis communications in any White House is to […]
2/15/2018
2016 ELECTION/LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Michael Cohen, personal lawyer to President Donald Trump, says that a month before the 2016 presidential election he paid $130,000 of his own money to porn star Stormy Daniels, who has in the past alleged she had a sexual encounter with Trump. There is already a pending complaint filed before […]
2/15/2018
REINCE PRIEBUS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Reports of chaos and disorganization inside the White House through the first months of President Donald Trump’s administration are accurate, former chief of staff Reince Priebus said. In fact, Priebus said, those reports understated the truth of the Trump administration’s beginnings. ‘Take everything you’ve heard and multiply it by 50,’ […]
2/14/2018
FBI/INTELLIGENCE/JOHN KELLY/NATIONAL SECURITY/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Nine days into the Rob Porter scandal, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders is pushing for senior officials who made the decisions surrounding the former White House staff secretary’s security clearance to take over the task of explaining—and defending—those decisions to the public. Since Tuesday [2-13-18], when FBI director Chris […]
2/14/2018
TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “President Donald Trump broke days of silence on the matter of spousal abuse, saying on Wednesday [2-14-18] he was opposed to all manner of domestic violence. ‘I’m totally opposed to domestic violence. And everybody here knows that,’ Trump said in the Oval Office. ‘I’m totally opposed to domestic violence of any […]
2/14/2018
FBI/NATIONAL SECURITY/TRUMP PEOPLE: “The House Oversight Committee on Wednesday [2-14-18] asked Chief of Staff John Kelly and FBI Director Christopher Wray to answer questions about the White House’s security clearance policy and their handling of domestic-abuse allegations against former adviser Rob Porter… Mr. Gowdy said the committee was seeking to learn what information was available […]
2/14/2018
HOUSE OF REPS/TRUMP PEOPLE: “The House Oversight Committee has opened an investigation into the White House’s employment of Rob Porter, a former adviser accused of domestic abuse, its chairman said Wednesday [2-14-18]. Asked in a CNN interview whether the panel would launch an investigation of the White House’s employment of Mr. Porter and its awareness […]
2/14/2018
GOP/NATIONAL SECURITY/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Republican lawmakers raised questions Wednesday [2-14-18] about the Trump administration’s security clearance process and an oversight panel launched an investigation, as the controversy surrounding former aide Rob Porter starts to eat into Capitol Hill’s confidence in President Donald Trump’s White House. Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) said his House Oversight Committee on Tuesday […]
2/13/2018
FBI/LEGAL/TRUMP PEOPLE: “The head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation said his agency first flagged issues with its background check of Rob Porter to the administration in March, a timeline that conflicts with what the White House said it knew about the former aide’s past. Mr. Porter resigned last week amid accusations that he physically […]
2/13/2018
FBI/LEGAL/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Rob Porter was involved in serious discussions to be promoted when he abruptly resigned from the White House last week amid allegations that he abused his two ex-wives, multiple sources familiar with the matter tell CNN. His anticipated elevation further highlights how top White House officials were willing to overlook indications from the […]
2/13/2018
TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Donald Trump is breaking records! Just not in a good way. More than one in three Trump administration staffers have left the White House in its first year, a pace that far eclipses the rate of departures in the previous five White Houses, according to a study done by Kathryn Dunn […]
2/13/2018
TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “The ex-wife of former White House speechwriter David Sorensen — who resigned last week amid allegations that he abused her — is disputing President Donald Trump’s suggestion that Sorenson didn’t receive due process. Jessica Corbett, who first came forward with the allegations last week, told NBC’s ‘Today’ in an exclusive interview […]
2/13/2018
MIKE PENCE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Omarosa Manigault Newman, the three-time ‘Apprentice’ contestant and fired White House staffer, told fellow contestants on her current reality television show there’s more reason to fear Mike Pence in the Oval Office than Donald Trump… Manigault Newman’s latest comments touch on a favorite parlor game of some anti-Trump politicians and […]
2/12/2018
NATIONAL SECURITY/TRUMP PEOPLE: “The doors at the White House have been swinging a lot lately. A deputy chief of staff moved on. A speechwriter resigned. The associate attorney general stepped down. The chief of staff offered to quit. And that was just Friday [2-9-18]. All of that came after the departure of Rob Porter, the […]
2/11/2018
JOHN KELLY/NATIONAL SECURITY/TRUMP PEOPLE: “The furor over spousal abuse allegations that forced the resignation of one of President Trump’s top advisers last week has exposed fissures within the White House that had been papered over since John F. Kelly took over last summer as chief of staff with a mandate to end the dysfunction. Aides […]
2/10/2018
LEGAL/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Peoples lives are being shattered and destroyed by a mere allegation. Some are true and some are false. Some are old and some are new. There is no recovery for someone falsely accused – life and career are gone. Is there no such thing any longer as Due Process?” -Donald Trump, Twitter.com, Feb. […]
2/8/2018
JOHN KELLY/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Among the many people agitated this week over John F. Kelly, the White House chief of staff, was President Trump. And among the people the president called to express dissatisfaction, according to those close to him, was none other than Reince Priebus, the previous chief of staff, who also irritated Mr. Trump… […]
2/9/2018
DRUGS/PHARMA/TRUMP PEOPLE: “White House deputy chief of staff Jim Carroll, who has served in that role for nearly three months, is expected to leave the White House to helm the Office of National Drug Control Policy, two sources with knowledge of the decision told CNN Friday [2-9-18]. Carroll, a White House lawyer who quietly became […]
2/9/2018
FBI/JOHN KELLY/TRUMP PEOPLE: “White House chief of staff John Kelly was told several weeks ago that the FBI would recommend denying full security clearances to multiple White House aides who had been working in the West Wing on interim security clearances. Those aides, according to a senior administration official, included former White House staff secretary […]
2/9/2018
POLITICS/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Omarosa Manigault-Newman, the ‘Apprentice’ star turned White House aide, dished on her time in the Trump administration and her former boss’ penchant for Twitter. ‘I was haunted by tweets every single day, like what is he going to tweet next?’ a tearful Manigault-Newman said in the teaser clip for Thursday’s [2-8-18] episode of […]
2/9/2018
TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “President Donald Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with Hope Hicks, his communications director and one of his closest confidantes, amid the fallout from the Rob Porter scandal, people familiar with the matter say. Meanwhile, the President has told associates he’s dismayed at how the allegations involving his former staff secretary accused […]
2/8/2018
JOHN KELLY/TRUMP PEOPLE: “The White House said Thursday [2-8-18] it could have better handled the domestic-abuse allegations that led to the resignation of staff secretary Rob Porter, as the president’s chief of staff faced mounting questions about how he dealt with the accusations… Scrutiny focused on chief of staff John Kelly, who worked closely with […]
2/7/2018
TRUMP PEOPLE: “Rob Porter will be out as early as Thursday [2-8-18], a senior White House official said Wednesday night, in another signal the West Wing is scrambling to contain the fallout over his continued employment even though officials were aware of the domestic abuse allegations against him. Porter, a top White House staffer, resigned […]
2/7/2018
TRUMP PEOPLE: “One of President Donald Trump’s top advisers, White House staff secretary Robert Porter, said Wednesday [2-7-18] that he has resigned his position amid allegations that he was abusive toward his ex-wives. Mr. Porter denied many of the allegations, which were first reported by the Daily Mail, a British daily newspaper. His sudden departure […]
2/7/2018
INTELLIGENCE/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said Wednesday [2-7-18] that he is unfazed by taunts from President Donald Trump, lamenting on CNN that such rhetoric has become ‘the new normal.’ Trump listed Clapper this week among the ‘biggest liars and leakers in Washington,’ a group that the president said also includes Rep. […]
2/7/2018
RELIGION/TRUMP PEOPLE: “A Texas-based evangelist with ties to President Donald Trump came under fire this week after video re-surfaced of her telling followers that they don’t need to get a flu shot because ‘Jesus himself gave us the flu shot.’ Gloria Copeland, a member of the president’s faith advisory council, posted the video last Wednesday, […]