All posts tagged "white house"

White House 'not a happy place' right now amid Trump's 'frustrated mood': Maggie Haberman

New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman revealed the mood inside the White House amid President Donald Trump's frustration.

During a Thursday appearance on CNN, Haberman was asked about the White House environment as Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt wrapped up her final day. CNN anchor Laura Coates noted that the second Trump administration isn't seeing as much turnover as the first, but she expects "a lot of midterm anxiety" in the White House right now.

"What's the morale like right now in the West Wing?" Coates asked Haberman.

"A midterms [race], as you know, is often a time when people leave White Houses. These are grueling jobs. There are, you know, intensity times a thousand," Haberman explained, but she added that staffers are feeling more pressure than usual as Trump is in a bad mood.

"It's not a happy environment by any of the reporting that we have," Haberman said. "The president has been in a pretty frustrated mood for a while about Iran, which, again, is of his own making."

Haberman added that Trump "does not have the patience for long-term diplomacy or having these lengthy conversations to try to get out of a situation."

Haberman and fellow New York Times reporter Jonathan Swan wrote Regime Change, which looks inside the White House during Trump's second administration. She told Coates that the book noted that Trump expected the conflict in Iran "to be a quick war."

Trump expected that "this would be over fast, and that just is not how it worked out, and now there is a further depletion of munitions, and there are stories about that all the time," Haberman said. "And he is frustrated about leaks and on and on and on."

As a result, "It's just not a happy environment" in the White House right now. "It is normal that people want to leave and want to go make money at this point, but it is very much not a happy place right now."

Trump's construction nearly caused Marine One to hit passenger jet: report

President Donald Trump's White House construction project set off a communication breakdown and an air safety incident, federal investigators found.

According to a Thursday report by The Washington Post, the president's Marine One helicopter started the cascade of events when it took off from a temporary location on August 4 due to White House construction, and controllers never got the required heads-up.

The miscommunication led to "a loss of separation" between Marine One and a commercial airliner, according to a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board released on Thursday.

Air traffic controllers at the Reagan National Airport didn't get a message from Marine One notifying it about the president's takeoff from the temporary location as Trump was on his way to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, The Post reported.

According to The Post, Marine One is supposed to give air traffic controllers at the Reagan National Airport at least a three-minute warning before taking off. The notice is supposed to allow air traffic controllers to clear the airspace and give Marine One an unimpeded route.

Recordings from the Reagan National Airport's air traffic control showed that the first attempt to contact the tower about Marine One's takeoff was not received at all, according to the preliminary report. Marine One then tried to contact the air traffic control tower again, only for the message to be "broken and completely unreadable," which was cited as part of the problem when news of the near-collision first broke.

The report also revealed that Marine One was taking off from the Ellipse, adjacent to the White House, "while construction was ongoing at the White House," it read. Technicians later concluded that the temporary location was in a position that did not have a direct line of sight necessary for radio communications, according to the report.

Marine One and a commercial jet came within 700 feet of each other vertically and .82 nautical miles laterally, according to the report, which noted the margin met the minimum separation standard for that airspace.

Trump's schedule raises major question about who's running the country: analyst

President Donald Trump's official daily schedule was so light that it raises questions about who is actually running the country, a political analyst argued.

During a Tuesday episode of The David Pakman Show, progressive political commentator David Pakman walked through the president's published itinerary. Pakman argued that almost none of it amounts to governing.

Trump's first substantive event was a 12:30 p.m. policy meeting, Pakman noted. It comes hours after a block the White House labels "executive time," which begins at 8 a.m., according to Pakman.

"This is a euphemism that they created during Trump's first term," Pakman said. "And it basically means Trump's watching TV, posting online, and calling sycophants who are willing to tell him he's doing a great job."

The rest of the day was equally thin, Pakman noticed. A prerecorded interview took place at 2 p.m.; a closed-press policy meeting was at 3 p.m., and a "signing time" at 4 p.m., according to Pakman. Trump had no intelligence briefing listed, nor any news conference or public event, with the schedule winding down around 4:10 p.m.

"Today, we can't even identify five hours of work, three closed-door events, a prerecorded interview, and signing time," Pakman said. He argued that it leaves a glaring gap at the center of the presidency.

"Who's running the country before 12:30?" Pakman asked.

Pakman also pointed to reporting from Trump's first term, when leaked private schedules showed roughly 60 percent of his working hours were logged as "executive time" and meetings frequently did not begin until 11 or 11:30 a.m. Pakman said that the pattern has returned.

"Trump's older, he's slower, he's more confused," Pakman said. "And he's working a really restricted public schedule."

Pakman took aim at the president's self-styled image of boundless stamina, saying the schedule disproves it.

"This guy is working 12:30 to 4:10 and wants us to believe he is the vigorous, more vigorous than Barack Obama was in his late 40s when he became president," Pakman said. "We don't believe it. It's obvious it's not true. Just stop lying to us, please."

'Freaky' Natalie Harp report unsettles observers: 'Please tell me this isn't real'

The fully exposed letters of President Donald Trump's aide Natalie Harp are drawing unease about how she writes him.

On Friday, online critics reacted to Harp's letters that were released the previous evening by Trump biographer Michael Wolff and The Daily Beast, which produces his podcast Inside Trump's Head. Harp has been in the spotlight lately after Sen. Jon Ossoff called the president out for preferring to "travel with Natalie Harp" rather than do his job, which drew scrutiny to her relationship with Trump.

"You are all that matters to me," one line, highlighted in a post by HuffPost editor Philip Lewis, read. "I don't want to ever let you down. Thank you for being my Guardian and Protector in this Life."

Ron Filipkowski, the editor-in-chief of the political news network MeidasTouch, pointed out that she randomly capitalizes words the way Trump does and related it to how she reportedly drafts Trump's Truth Social posts.

"The syntax and random capitalizations in Natalie Harp's letters to Trump are a Rosetta Stone that can be used to determine which he wrote and which are her writing him," Filipkowski posted on X.

"Y'all, this woman isn't well," wrote former GOP strategist Rick Wilson.

"Lots to unpack in this Natalie Harp letter," ex-Trump White House deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews reacted. "But this line in particular stood out to me: 'I was approaching burnout, and starting to envy those whose only 'job' seems to be to talk with you, and look pretty.' Lol."

"This is some freaky stuff," Democratic political commentator Harry Sisson warned. "Anyone with a brain can see that."

Podcaster and political extremism researcher Jared Holt described Harp's letter as "ten times scarier than a death threat. If anyone ever sent me something like this I would seek a restraining order as soon as humanly possible and be legitimately scared for my safety."

"Please tell me this isn't real," CNN contributor Ana Navarro-Cárdenas pleaded on X.

Progressive political commentator Molly Jong-Fast joked, "There's no chance that Donald Trump made it to the end of this letter."

Trump insiders secretly sabotaging Scott Jennings' shot at replacing Leavitt: report

Allies of President Donald Trump are trying to "derail" conservative commentator Scott Jennings' chances of winning the press secretary job.

According to a Thursday article by the New York Post, Trump's "fiercest allies" are trying to ruin Jennings because of his longstanding ties to his mentor, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY). Trump is still trying to fill the post that White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt will vacate at the end of the month.

"It's not going to be him," an anonymous source close to the administration told The Post.

The Post noted that Jennings met with White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles this past weekend, but a senior administration official said that no clear favorite has emerged for the job.

"It's an open book," the senior administration official said. "There are no favorites or preconceived ideas."

However, reporting by The Post framed the indecision as Trump insiders trying to sabotage Jennings' chances over his ties to McConnell. Jennings, a Kentucky native, has talked about his relationship with McConnell in light of the senior senator's extended absence.

The Post also noted that Jennings aligned himself with McConnell's position about holding Trump responsible for the violence at the Capitol on January 6. Jennings wrote a CNN op-ed declaring, "Trump caused this insurrection with his lies and conspiracy theories about the election process being rigged."

When The Post reached out to Jennings for comment, he responded with a gif of Patrick Swayze's character from the 1989 film "Road House," with the caption, "Opinions vary."

Jennings recently took the Trump position when responding to Sen. Jon Ossoff's comments about how the president prefers to "travel with Natalie Harp" instead of doing his job. In a fiery CNN debate, Jennings insisted that Harp doesn't deserve to be attacked because she doesn't have a public-facing role, but he refused to denounce Trump's attacks on women, including female reporters.

Harp herself has emerged as a possible dark-horse candidate for Leavitt's job, and insiders have also said that Trump would prefer to hire a man for the job, while others report that Trump wouldn't mind holding off on hiring until after the midterms.

Trump weighs press secretary shakeup with new hiring rule in mind: report

President Donald Trump is telling advisers he wants a man to replace outgoing White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, according to NOTUS.

Trump has told close advisers he would prefer a man for the job after four female press secretaries across his two terms, two anonymous sources familiar with the conversation told the outlet. The pick would be meant to head off comparisons with Leavitt, who plans to leave the White House at the end of August, according to reporting by NOTUS.

Trump has shown interest in Scott Jennings, a conservative media pundit widely reported to have been the frontrunner for a bit. One source told NOTUS that Trump is not sold on the idea, however. Ari Fleischer, who served as press secretary under President George W. Bush, has also been floated, according to NOTUS.

The reporting adds a new wrinkle to a search that has quietly consumed the West Wing since Leavitt announced last week that she would step down at the end of the month, which was just a month after she returned from maternity leave. She cited a desire to spend more time with family and plans to stay on as an outside senior adviser.

Trump has said he is in no rush to fill the role, according to one source who spoke to NOTUS. Instead, the White House could lean on the rotating briefing format used during Leavitt's maternity leave from late April to July, when Vice President JD Vance and Cabinet members such as Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent took the podium.

Another dark-horse candidate has surfaced inside the West Wing. A person close to the White House predicted that the attention swirling around Trump's devoted aide Natalie Harp could push her into the job.

"She was on OANN," the source said, referring to her time as a host on the One America News Network. The source added that the media is going to "make her press secretary."

Maggie Haberman reveals Natalie Harp's 'incredible power' within the Oval Office

Devoted aide Natalie Harp is President Donald Trump's channel to the outside world and even texts world leaders on his behalf, a veteran Trump reporter revealed on Wednesday.

New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman revealed the details of Harp's role during an appearance on CNN. Haberman wrote about Harp's role in the Trump administration in a Wednesday article for The Times, as well as in the book she co-authored, Regime Change.

"She is not the White House Staff Secretary, which is supposed to be the last step for paper flow. She's not the Press Secretary from whom certain media requests are supposed to come. She is a channel by which foreign leaders try to reach him if they can't some other way," Haberman said. "She has a channel by which he reaches people he sees on television who he likes."

Throughout the day, Harp is talking to Trump about his social media posts. The CNN segment included clips from the documentary "Art of the Surge" about Trump's 2024 campaign, in which she's shown writing Trump's Truth Social posts as he dictates them, random capitalizations and all.

"She is a specific channel of information, but she is one that he considers very important. So do other people outside the White House," Haberman said. "She's got a position of incredible power, but it's not outside the Oval Office. It's inside the Oval Office."

According to Haberman's Wednesday article for The Times, Harp has a $150,000 taxpayer-funded salary. During the CNN segment, Haberman said she and co-author Jonathan Swan understand Harp has a security clearance. Haberman also described Harp's relationship with other White House staffers as a "food fight," noting that she's "not beloved."

The Times article also mentions videos it obtained that show Harp sprinting across a Scottish golf course to keep up with Trump's cart. She later wrote him a letter.

"I also am sorry if I was an embarrassment walking the course in Scotland," Harp wrote Trump. "I want things to always be right between us."

Harp signed off, "With all my heart, Natalie."

Trump's 'enormously long' waste of time baffles CNN pundits: 'He's running the country'

President Donald Trump's impromptu half-hour tour of the White House South Lawn surprised a CNN anchor with his use of time.

During a Wednesday segment on CNN, Kasie Hunt said Trump spent 32 minutes leading reporters around the White House while talking about stones, flagpoles, and his planned ballroom.

"32 minutes in a presidential day is an enormously long amount of time," Hunt said. "It doesn't feel like it. You can easily waste 32 minutes on Instagram like the rest of us, but he's running the country."

According to Kate Bedingfield, a former White House communications director for Joe Biden, the president's day "is scheduled within minute increments, and there are decisions made that give him the time to do this rather than other things."

Trump's schedule initially said he was participating in a policy meeting during the time slot he used for his impromptu tour, Hunt said.

"I would just be absolutely ripping my hair out," Bedingfield said.

Axios reporter Alex Thompson said, "Democrats running in competitive seats are jumping for joy" because of Trump's time-wasting.

Politico reporter Marc Caputo said that Trump's misuse of his time is part of the reason "why his approval ratings have been slipping, even among Republicans." However, Trump focuses on his projects because "he loves it. He is the builder in chief."

Mark Sanford, the Republican former governor of South Carolina, suggested Trump is trying to achieve "immortality" with his pet projects.

"It's frightening in that none of us are wild about dying, but I think he's preoccupied with it. It's a triumphant arch, whether it's renaming the peace center, whether it's the ballroom, you just go down the list," Sanford said. "It ought to be your actions in a governance role that stand out."

However, Caputo said that Trump has "stamped his legacy on the GOP and altered its DNA."

Trump rages out of control as critics question grass-and-dictator rant: 'Complete lunatic'

President Donald Trump went on a rant Wednesday over the helipad construction, grass, his ballroom project, the Iran war and his relationship status with Kim Jong Un.

Trump was outside the White House for a helipad press tour on the South Lawn when he gave a rambling update.

"It's very close to being finished, the hard work is done," Trump said, talking about the material and building process. "This is for many presidents, they will have it for a long time."

He praised the construction crew, and talked about how it would be important for foreign leaders and White House events.

"Right now they're not impressed," he said.

He also spoke in detail about the grass — and made an admission.

"It's in shock," Trump added. "But you come back in two or three weeks, this has all been redone. It's all been topsoiled. If you remember, it had big sunken areas in here, and was pretty bad. It was in bad shape, but this grass was the highest quality. It was given free of charge by ScottsMiracle-Gro. Scotts is a great company. They actually contributed to my campaign, I must be honest."

Independent journalist Aaron Rupar captured Trump's comments, compiling a series of clips shared on social media.

"Here's a supercut of Trump just now ranting and raving like a complete lunatic outside the White House on topics including his military ballroom, warm relationship with Kim Jong Un, and how great things are going in Iran," Rupar wrote on X.

Other media and political commentators weighed in on Trump's remarks.

Reporter James Fallows raised a question.

"Challenge: Is there anyone who has worked in a non-Trump White House—as I did, eons ago, under Carter—who views this rant as other than *insane sundowner perseveration* fit for a Florida nursing home? To me, this is insane sundowner obsession. Anyone with first-hand WH experience who disagrees?" Fallows wrote on Bluesky.

Max Berger, co-founder of Momentum Training Institute, an organization that trains progressive activists, argued Trump's focus on Kim Jong Un — and the president's claim he planned to meet with him — were revealing.

"The ultimate irony of Trump, like all fascists, is that he’s a weak person’s idea of a strong man. Trump is a pathetic simp for anyone who strokes his incredibly fragile ego because he can’t take an ounce of objective reality. Of course he gets along with another fat delusional nepo-baby," Berger wrote on Bluesky.

Shockwaves as another top aide announces exit from Trump admin

Another top Trump administration official announced plans to leave the White House, Axios reported on Tuesday.

Emily Underwood, top deputy to Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, has announced a departure for Trust Ventures, a venture capital firm, where she will be a partner.

Underwood has been with the Trump administration throughout President Donald Trump's second term, Axios reported. She has focused on policy, including implementing a strategy across the federal government, on nuclear energy research and development.

Caleb Orr, a top adviser to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, will replace Underwood. Orr has worked closely with Rubio and has been considered a "key architect of the State Department's critical minerals, energy and commercial diplomacy policies," according to Axios.

Underwood's departure set off fireworks on social media.

"It's a sinking ship," Democratic strategist Mike Nellis posted on X about the news.

"Rat flees sinking ship," Jason Tufele Carl Johnson, a former staffer for Rep. Raul Grijalva in Arizona, posted on X.