Trump's Ex-Assistant Releasing a Book About Leaving White House for Dishing on President's Family
Donald Trump‘s former personal assistant Madeleine Westerhout — who left her White House job last year after she dished to the press about the president’s children at an off-the-record gathering — is reportedly set to release a book about her time with Trump and that “momentary lapse in judgment that occurred because of too much wine at a dinner.”
Westerhout’s Off the Record will be published on Aug. 11, according to Axios.
The 29-year-old director of Oval Office operations had to resign last August after it became known that she had talked indelicately to reporters about the president and his relationship with his kids — including Ivanka and Tiffany Trump — during one of his trips to New Jersey earlier that month.
The former Trump aide was fired “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,” according to Politico, who first reported the news.
The New York Times reported at the time that Westerhout resigned but that her exit amounted to a termination as she wasn’t allowed back to the White House.
At that dinner, Westerhout also spoke candidly and freely about everything from “Trump’s eating habits; his youngest son, Barron Trump; and his thoughts about [Tiffany’s] weight and appearance,” according to the Times.
Though notoriously leaky, the Trump administration has rarely seen officials publicly confirmed as loose lipped.
At the time, Trump, 73, declined to describe Westerhout’s dismissal as a firing — “I think it was automatic” — and partially blamed the “very dishonest” press for Westerhout’s decision to be candid.
Jabin Botsford/Getty Images Madeleine Westerhout (back) with President Donald Trump in February 2018
The president tweeted days later that he forgave her: “She called me yesterday to apologize, had a bad night. I fully understood and forgave her!”
He also noted, however, that Westerhout “has a fully enforceable confidentiality agreement” but “I don’t think there would ever be reason to use it.”
“With so many books out there that have attacked President Trump, I feel it is important to share what I see as the other side — the truth — about the man who is a kind and generous boss, a great leader for our country, and someone I grew to deeply admire,” Westerhout said in a statement this week about her new book, according to Axios.
The book publisher said she planned to use Off the Record to name names regarding reporters she felt “broke their agreement” about the off-the-record dinner that led her to lose her job.
After news broke about Westerhout’s indiscrete comments, Tiffany Trump shared an inspirational quote on her Instagram.
“Study me as much as you like, you will never know me,” the quote, shared by Tiffany, read. “For i differ a hundred ways from what you see me to be. put yourself behind my eyes, and see me as i see myself. Because i have chosen to dwell in a place you cant see.”
President Trump denied Westerhout’s claim that he avoided pictures with Tiffany because of her appearance.
“[Tiffany] is a wonderful person,” Trump told reporters last year. “She’s a great student.” He also tweeted, “I love Tiffany, doing great!”
“I really think [Westerhout] had a bad night. I think it was unfortunate. She said she was drinking, and the whole thing was very unfortunate,” Trump said last year.
“She mentioned a couple of things about my children,” Trump told reporters at the White House after Westerhout’s exit. “You don’t say things like she said, which were just a little bit hurtful to some people.”
