Update: President Trump reportedly told a group of reporters Friday afternoon before leaving for Camp David that he had fired his former secretary and Oval Office ‘gatekeeper’, Madeleine Westerhout, because she had made inappropriate comments about his relationship with his daughters.
“I think she said some things. She called me. She was very upset. She was very down,” Trump said, referring to a phone call between he and Westerhout that purportedly took place after she was fired Thursday evening.
“She called and I wished her well,” Trump said.
He added that he always felt Westerhout did “a good job”, and that he thought she was a “good person.”
According to the Hill, the president was commenting on a Politico report published Friday claiming that Westerhout was fired for bragging that she had a better relationship with Trump than he had with his daughters, Ivanka and Tiffany Trump, and that - more critically - Trump didn’t like being photographed alongside Tiffany because he felt she was overweight.
Westerhout reportedly made the comments after an off-the-record dinner with reporters on Aug. 17. The dinner allegedly took place at the restaurant inside an Embassy Suites hotel with a group of reporters who were covering Trump’s weekend trip to his resort in Bedminster, New Jersey.
🚨 SCOOP: Madeleine Westerhout, Trump’s personal assistant, was fired after bragging to reporters that she had a better relationship w/ Trump than his own daughters and POTUS did not like being in pictures w/ Tiffany because he thought she was overweight. https://t.co/Hpyhh7I1b4
— Daniel Lippman (@dlippman) August 30, 2019
After the dinner, Westerhout rode back to a different hotel with the Washington Post’s Phil Rucker and Reuters’ Steve Holland. White House Press Secretary Hogan Gidley had been present at the dinner, but left to do an interview with Fox News, leaving Westerhout to “open up” to the reporters after having a few drinks.
A confidant of Donald Trump Jr. accused Rucker of breaking journalistic protocol by reporting on details divulged during the off-the-record conversation, though both Rucker and his employer denied this, and it wasn’t immediately clear what the Trump family confidant was referring to.
According to Politico, Trump confirmed that he had fired Westerhout because of her comments, which he described as “a little bit hurtful.” Trump added that he would touch base with his youngest daughter once he reached Camp David.
“I love Tiffany,” he said.
Watch video of Trump’s comments below (his comments about Westerhout can be found at around the 3 minute mark):
Pres. Trump makes remarks ahead of departing for Camp David. https://t.co/n4xJABzkYL
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) August 30, 2019
* * *
An aide and top gatekeeper to President Trump has resigned from her position at the White House after reportedly being caught leaking to the press, Bloomberg and the New York Times reported late Thursday.
Madeleine Westerhout, the now-former special assistant to the president and director of Oval Office operations, had worked for the president since the transition. But she shared details about Trump, his family and his time in the White House during an off-the-record chat with reporters.
Once her actions had been discovered, the administration decided that “immediate termination” was the only worthwhile punishment for leaking. She would not be returning to work on Friday.
The White House didn’t immediately have a comment on her departure.
Westerhout served as a critical gatekeeper for the president. Her office sat literally in front of the Oval Office.
Many former Trump staffers tried to turn Westerhout into an ally because of her ability to control access to the Oval. These included former Chief of Staff John Kelly. But, per the NYT, her authority in the West Wing came almost entirely from her physical proximity to the president, since she was not a “name brand” aide.
She also regularly shared snapshots from the West Wing on her private Instagram account, and once joked that she had been responsible for printing a piece of paper that Trump had held up at a public event.
via zerohedge
Just another idiot millennial who has no idea what responsibility, good judgement, dedication to duty and loyalty means. She is an example of the twitter/facebook/instagram/snapchat simpletons, that permeate our society now. Don’t know how to do their job and keep their mouths shut about things that have nothing to do with them or are none of their business. Not to mention appropriateness and being smart enough to know vultures you are speaking to are just waiting for ANYTHING they can use against your boss.
Mark my words, this dumb B*tch will have a book out within a year, be on all the left wing shows with loud mouthed fat dem Kunts and make a butt ton of money…all because she was an idiot and had no idea when to STFU!!
WOW!2
Maga2020,i think you may be right kid … shows you how bright she is, has a f**king job in the WH ffs and cant STFU !!
What ever happened to respect and decorum? UNBELIEVABLE, and people wonder what is wrong with the Country.
Loose lips sink ships,some people are just born stupid.
The secret here is: Don’t drink and speak to a reporter that promises you confidentiality.
Loyalty to your boss, no matter at what level, is essential. She broke that code. When I was Assistant VP in a company, I was the only one that knew that the boss was in a divorce and living in a NY Hotel. It was difficult not to get into the office gossip, or even set the record straight with some of the things being said. Silence was the best defense.
Agree 100%. What is spoken in confidence is kept in confidence. I wonder if James Comey might be interested in another secretary?
Power hits all kinds of people and takes what was a possibly hard working nice girl and turned her into an infant swamp creature of DC. I doubt she meant to hurt any of the Trump family. Put a few cocktails into anybody and the comment “you can trust me I won’t say a word “ and you’ve got trouble.
She worked hard for her career and now blew it. That job has got to be a difficult one. If you think the president gets thrown more garbage than anyone in this country can you imagine being this young aid who controls so much? A young girl? She catches the good and the bad on both sides of the fence too. No, that was a tough job and she made a huge mistake.
I worked on Wall Street and right after 911 Trump volunteered one of his buildings for the American Express employees to use as a temporary place of work since there building was damaged during the towers falling. I was walking in with my high heels and pulling my computer bag which also held other things because I traveled. I remember entering into the lobby that had this beautiful marble flooring and as I walked over to the security desk the doorman came running to me and asked me to please lift my bag up off the floor and double checked my heels. I asked him why? He said Mr. Trump does not like anything scratching his marble floors. He’s very particular about everything.
I’m a huge Trump supporter but that’s only over the last few years; prior to that I thought the guy was an idiot. It started back when I realized that his people working in the building were terrified of upsetting him. So I can promise you that working for Donald Trump was a very challenging job for this young girl and quite frankly anybody on his team because he demands excellence and perfection in the execution of the work. There’s little room for failure I believe. I also think he’s probably quite tough on his children Not unlike my own mother who was tough on me. Always sharpening that saw.
I want to raise their children and the relationship they have something private and personal within every family. The damn news media needs to just shut up.
Very well said, Katherine. And what better person to have in the WH than someone who wants things done right.
Why is there never enough time to do an assignment correctly the first time but always enough time to do it over? “Ugly” can be fixed …. “Stupid” …. Not so easy !!!
Anyone trusting any journalist or reporters to keeping off the record comments silence needs their heads examined. Just another example of our media looking for stardom.
Seems to me the President is hurting his own team when he fires people for minor transgressions or for appearances. I think whoever leaked this should feel really bad. They could have kept their mouths shut.
More typical female, narcissistic crap showing how worthless so many women really are. Only concerned about your own high heels and look and never concerned about the actual person you are criticizing and harming. Even saying anything nasty about Donald Trump’s daughters while holding such a position shows a very shallow, mean spirited individual who never deserved a chance to work in the White House much less being a gate keeper for the Oval Office. Another female hurting all other women. Shame.
The libertards have eroded our society so much over the last 50 years. Ethics, morality, and just plain decency aren’t taught in schools, and modern parents don’t raise their own kids.
This is another example of why we should ignore the media; and, send our kids to non-public schools.
Never shit where you eat.
@ Terry - Brevity is the soul of wit! 👍🏻
‘Westerhout reportedly made the comments after an off-the-record dinner with reporters on Aug. 17.”
So much for her judgement in trusting vipers not to bite. So much for the “honor” of the vipers.
She should sue the ‘reporters’ for breach of confidence if she didn’t intend for the conversation to be divulged.