Tag: Trump White House

Hope Hicks: The quiet one in Trump’s White House suddenly feels the glare

The following article by Mary Jordan and Josh Dawsey was posted on the Washington Post website February 10, 2018:

Hope Hicks, a trusted confidante and adviser to President Trump, was named White House communications director on Sept. 12. (Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

In a White House full of noise, she is the quiet one. Not the TV gladiator, not press room warrior, not a general. Certainly not the Mooch.

Hope Hicks, the discreet aide always at President Trump’s side and whose desk is just outside the Oval Office, is his right-hand woman. Improbably, the former model, at only 29, has worked with Trump longer than anyone he is not related to at the White House. Continue reading “Hope Hicks: The quiet one in Trump’s White House suddenly feels the glare”

Dems Wrote Memo To Set Up White House, Trump Says

The following article by John T. Bennett was posted on the Roll Call website February 10, 2018:]

President: Intel Dems wanted to ‘blame the White House for lack of transparency’

President Trump speaks in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building last month, blasting House Intelligence Democrats over a rebuttal memo of which he is blocking the release. Credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images

President Donald Trump is accusing House Intelligence Committee Democrats with purposely crafting their rebuttal memo about FBI and Justice Department officials’ actions early in the Russia election meddling probe in a way that would back his White House into a corner.

The president used a Saturday tweet to explain his Friday night decision to block the release of the Democratic document that counters one released last week by the panel’s Republicans. Trump claims the Democrats crafted “a very political and long response memo which they knew, because of sources and methods (and more), would have to be heavily redacted.”

The GOP president accused the committee’s Democrats with crafting their document so they could “blame the White House for lack of transparency.” Continue reading “Dems Wrote Memo To Set Up White House, Trump Says”

‘Very turbulent’: Trump and White House consumed with turmoil amid abuse allegations

The following article by Philip Rucker and Josh Dawsey was posted on the Washington Post website February 9, 2018:

White House officials said Chief of Staff John F. Kelly told them to give information about staff secretary Rob Porter’s ouster that contradicts other reports. (Joyce Koh/The Washington Post)

The White House was engulfed in chaos Friday as officials scrambled to contain the fallout from its management of domestic violence allegations against staff secretary Rob Porter, even as President Trump lavished praise on the now-departed senior aide and suggested he may be innocent.

And amid the tumult, the man whose mission had been to enforce order in the West Wing, Chief of Staff John F. Kelly, was focused instead on a more personal goal — to save his job — as Trump seriously sounded out confidants about possible replacements. Continue reading “‘Very turbulent’: Trump and White House consumed with turmoil amid abuse allegations”

Trump Blocks Release of Democrats’ Intelligence Memo

The following article by John T. Bennett was posted on the Roll Call website February 9, 2018:

Pelosi sees a ‘desperate pattern of cover-up on the part of the president’

Credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Updated 6:47 a.m., Feb. 10 | Despite his commitment earlier Friday, President Donald Trump is blocking release of a Democratic House Intelligence Committee memo rebutting one from the Republican side, and senior Democrats are now accusing him of a “cover up.”

The Russia matter took an incredible new turn Friday night when Trump’s top White House lawyer informed the House Intelligence Committee that the president could not allow the Democrats’ document to be made public “because the memorandum contains numerous properly classified and especially sensitive passages.” Continue reading “Trump Blocks Release of Democrats’ Intelligence Memo”

Trump Defends Rob Porter: ‘He … Says He’s Innocent’

The following article by John T. Bennett was posted on the Roll Call website February 9, 2018:

‘We hope he has a wonderful career,’ president says amid abuse scandal

Credit: AP Photo/Evan Vucci

President Donald Trump on Friday praised former Staff Secretary Rob Porter, who left the White House Thursday amid a domestic abuse scandal involving allegations from two ex-wives.

“We wish him well, he worked very hard. We found out about it recently and I was surprised by it, but we certainly wish him well and it’s a tough time for him,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “He did a very good job when he was in the White House.”

Despite images handed over to media outlets from his first wife showing her with a black eye she says Porter gave her on their honeymoon in the early-2000s, the president said White House officials “hope he has a wonderful career and he will have a great career ahead of him.” Continue reading “Trump Defends Rob Porter: ‘He … Says He’s Innocent’”

The Other Memo Lawmakers Want the Public to See — But Trump Doesn’t

The following article by Griffin Connolly was posted on the Roll Call website February 9, 2018:

The White House has shrouded a seven-page memo outlining POTUS’ interpretation of war powers

Sens. Kaine, D-Va., right, and Flake, R-Ariz., conduct a news conference in the Capitol to introduce an authorization for use of military force (AUMF) against ISIS, al-Qaeda, and the Taliban in May 2017. Credit: Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo

Sen. Tim Kaine is demanding that the White House release a secret memo outlining President Donald Trump’s interpretation of his legal basis to wage war.

The Virginia Democrat, a member of the Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees, sent a letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Thursday requesting that he hand over the seven-page document drafted last spring.

Kaine’s concern with the memo stems from the president’s unilateral decision last April to strike a Syrian airfield with Tomahawk missiles worth millions of dollars in response to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad using chemical weapons on his own people. Continue reading “The Other Memo Lawmakers Want the Public to See — But Trump Doesn’t”

The Rob Porter debacle just became the Rob Porter scandal

The following article by Aaron Blake was posted on the Washington Post website February 9, 2018:

A senior administration official told POLITICO John Credit: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images

Update: And now we learn that, according to White House staff, Kelly tried to get aides to pass along a version of his actions that they consider to be untrue. Kelly reportedly wanted them to say he acted to remove Porter within 40 minutes of learning the abuse allegations against him were credible. As I argued, it’s the latest sign that Kelly is treading water.

White House spokesman Raj Shah wouldn’t elaborate Thursday on when Chief of Staff John F. Kelly and others became aware of allegations of spousal abuse by former staff secretary Rob Porter. And now we know why: It’s pretty damning. Continue reading “The Rob Porter debacle just became the Rob Porter scandal”

Marching Into Political Combat

The following article by Kenneth Walsh was posted on the U.S. News and World Report website February 9, 2018:

President Trump’s kinder, gentler attitude lasted less than a week.

Credit: Evan Vucci/AP

President Donald Trump has marched back into political combat after a temporary truce. He is again picking fights and intensifying feuds with a variety of people he deems as adversaries. This is raising questions about whether he is making the divisions and bitterness in Washington worse as Congress attempts to find compromises on issues such as setting budget priorities, overhauling the immigration system and rebuilding roads, bridges and other parts of the U.S. infrastructure.

Trump’s latest targets include a key member of the House of Representatives whom he called a liar, congressional Democrats in general whom he blasted as “treasonous,” and pro football players who protest during the national anthem. Continue reading “Marching Into Political Combat”

FBI surveillance of Carter Page might have picked up Bannon

The following article by Kyle Cheney was posted on the Politico website February 8, 2018:

The former Trump campaign adviser says he spoke to Trump aide Steve Bannon about Russia in January 2017, at a time when the FBI had a controversial warrant to monitor Page’s communications.

© Getty Images

The FBI was monitoring Carter Page when the former Trump campaign adviser says he spoke with Trump adviser Steve Bannon about Russia in January 2017, raising the strong possibility that the FBI intercepted a conversation between the two men.

Page told Congress in November about the call. But it has been cast into a new light by last week’s release of a Republican memo revealing that the FBI was monitoring Page’s communications at the time. Continue reading “FBI surveillance of Carter Page might have picked up Bannon”

“He was F—ing Pissed”: With Rob Porter Gone, the Heat on John Kelly is Increasing

The following article by Gabriel Sherman was posted on the Vanity Fair website February 8, 2018:

Trump is not happy with the chaos; Jared and Ivanka are trying to right the ship; and even Hope Hicks, one of the president’s closest confidantes, is in trouble.

Ivanka Trump, John Kelly, and Jared Kushner look on as Donald Trump delivers remarks to reporters before a Cabinet meeting at the White House, January 10, 2018. Credit: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters.

A day after White House Staff Secretary Rob Porter resigned amid allegations he physically abused his ex-wives, the Trump administration is still struggling to contain the fallout. The question of who knew what, and when, is being hotly debated in the West Wing. Chief of Staff John Kelly, whose relationship with Trump has been strained in recent weeks, is taking the lion’s share of the blame, as I reported yesterday. On Wednesday night, Donald Trump vented to advisers that Kelly had not fully briefed him on Porter’s issues with women until recently, two sources told me. Trump was also not aware of the severity of the alleged abuse until yesterday, when Ivanka walked into the Oval Office and showed her father a photo published in the Daily Mail of Porter’s ex-wife with a black eye. “He was fucking pissed,” said one Republican briefed on the conversation. According to a source, Ivanka and Jared Kushner have been discussing possible chief-of-staff replacements. The problem is there’s not an obvious candidate waiting in the wings. Continue reading ““He was F—ing Pissed”: With Rob Porter Gone, the Heat on John Kelly is Increasing”