The personal assistant to President Donald Trump who was fired on Thursday for talking shit about Trump and his family had specifically referred to the president’s relationship with his daughters, among other issues, Politico reported.
Madeleine Westerhout, 28, was ousted after “bragging to reporters that she had a better relationship with Trump than his own daughters, Ivanka and Tiffany Trump, and that the president did not like being in pictures with Tiffany because he perceived her as overweight,” the news site said.
Westerhout apparently made the comments at an off-the-record dinner with reporters a couple weeks ago at Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, NJ. Attending that dinner were White House spokesman Hogan Gidley, Phil Rucker of The Washington Post, Bloomberg’s Jennifer Jacobs, Reuters’ Steve Holland, and Andrew Restuccia of the Wall Street Journal.
She also reportedly spoke about the president’s eating habits, and his youngest son, Barron.
It’s hard to know exactly how Trump found out, but the president and his officials are blaming the media. “This was an off-the-record dinner and the media blatantly violated that agreement,” an unnamed official told Politico.
It also appears officials think Rucker did the talking, or at least that’s who they seem to be blaming. Arthur Schwartz, the 47-year-old friend of Donald Trump Jr. and Steve Bannon who has been searching for dirt on reporters in order to smear them, has been repeatedly tweeting about Rucker since the story broke. Schwartz accused Rucker of using “piss poor judgment” and urged anyone in the administration who talks to Rucker to be “fired immediately.”
In response, a spokesman for the Post told Politico that, “Philip Rucker is one of the best and most scrupulous reporters in the news business. He has always acted with the utmost honor and integrity and has never violated Washington Post standards or policies.”
Trump, meanwhile, told reporters on Friday he thinks Westerhout had a “bad night.” “I really think she had a bad night. I think it was unfortunate. She said she was drinking,” he said, according to the Post.
Trump called the journalists involved “dishonest” because the conversation “was supposed to be off the record.”
The president also repeatedly has been expressing his “love” for his daughter Tiffany, who doesn’t have as high a public profile as Trump’s other children. “I love Tiffany,” Trump said on Friday, repeating it again on Saturday in a strangely worded tweet that added, “doing great!”
Trump also reminded the world that Westerhout had signed a confidentiality agreement, but is a “very good person” and would never, ever violate it.