Trump's Personal Assistant Abruptly Quits Amid Reports She Shared Private Info with Reporters
A personal assistant to President Donald Trump resigned Thursday after she was caught sharing private information about the president with the media, Fox News reported.
Madeleine Westerhout was accused of sharing what Fox called “intimate details about the president’s family and life” when she met with reporters during an off-the-record dinner earlier this month.
The dinner allegedly took place near Bedminster, New Jersey, where Trump was on vacation.
CNN reported that Westerhout never told reporters that her comments about Trump and his family were off the record, and that White House staff found about what she said from a reporter.
Westerhout “had been drinking and disclosed private details about the president’s family,” according to CBS News.
The CBS report, which was based on an anonymous source, said she also “gossiped about TV news personalities seeking access to the president.”
Trump’s longtime personal assistant, Madeleine Westerhout, has resigned, sources say.
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Trump learned about the breach Thursday, The New York Times reported.
The Times said she was immediately classified as a “separated employee” and was not allowed back in the White House on Friday.
Westerhout was a former Republican National Committee aide who worked on Mitt Romney’s 2012 Republican presidential campaign.
The Times noted that Westerhout cried on election night in 2016 because she had not wanted Trump to win.
According to The Times, Westerhout was a pawn in the internal politics of White House officials who sought to manage Trump and was linked to former Chief of Staff John Kelly.
Westerhout, whose desk was just outside the Oval Office, was described by The Times as having no power other than proximity to Trump.
Politico framed Westerhout’s departure as the end result of efforts on her part to become more important in the White House, and said the episode was considered “the final straw.”
Politico’s report, also based on anonymous sourcing, said Westerhoust “tried to expand the boundaries of her job to encompass a broader set of tasks and to include foreign travel.”
Its report said her actions, which seemed to be taken as trying to make herself “a de facto chief of staff,” irritated White House officials who wanted her to focus only on the duties of her job as a personal assistant.
Neither Westerhout nor the White House responded to requests from various media outlets for comment.
CNN reported that Westerhout was on vacation this week.
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