The testimony by Ms Westerhout was very interesting.
Laffy
@
GottaLaff@mastodon.social
34/ McB:
Westerhout says she sat in the "outer Oval Office," and points out on the floor plan where her desk was—it's just about as close as you could get to the Oval Office w/o being in Oval Office.
Also in the outer Oval: Hope Hicks, John McEntee, and Keith Schiller.
Dan Scavino was "one of the president's very trusted advisors," he did a lot of Trump's communications and to "get tweets out," says Westerhout.
35/ McB:
Q: As Trump's special assistant and executive assistant, was the president your only focus?
A: I tried to have it be my only focus. (she laughs nervously)
Q: Did you have job training or orientation?
A: Not formally, no, she says she observed Hicks, Scavino, and others to learn
36/ McB:
We progress in time through Westerhout's CV: eventually she became director of oval office operations, and her desk changed with her title.
Q: Did you develop an understnading of Trump's work habits and preferences?
A: I hope so
Q: His relationships and contacts?
A: Yes
37/ McB:
His social media presence? The way he interacted with his family? Yes and yes.
Back to his work habits. Westerhout says he preferred speaking with people in person, or on the phone. He took "a lot" of phone calls in the day, starting as early as 6am and late into the night.
38/ McB:
There's a "rather complicated process," to call the president, says Westerhout.
One way is to call Westerhout's desk, and she would patch them through.
But John Smith on the street calling 1-800-WHITEHOUSE wouldn't just be patched right through.
McB:
Q: Did Mr Trump use a computer?
A: Not to my knowledge.
Q: Did Mr Trump have an email account?
A: Not to my knowledge.
She says Trump liked hard-copy documents, and liked to read, in fact his job in 2017 required quite a lot of it.
Westerhout says Trump wanted to keep the Resolute Desk "pristine," and only for meetings, so he would do a lot of his reading and other work in the "dining room," just off the Oval Office.
40/ McB:
Was he organized?
To my understanding, the president knew where things were,
but he had a lot of papers he would take with him.
Did he have attention to detail? Yes.
Signing practices? By hand—he liked to use Sharpies or a Pentel felt tip pen, says Westerhout.
41/
Bower:
Trump used soc media, mainly Twitter, in 2017. He posted tweets himself using that handle.
Did anyone else have access to that account? Scavino. But other than that, Westerhout doesn't have knowledge of anyone else having access.
McB:
With the exception of the nervous laugh earlier, Westerhout is composed, clear, answering graciously and thoroughly, but never with excess detail.
42/ Okay, be back soon.
43/
Catching up, via Phang:
MANGOLD: Signature practices, did he use an automated signature or sign by himself? WESTERHOUT: he signed by himself
MANGOLD: particular type of pen? WESTERHOUT: sharpies or pentel felt tip
MANGOLD: Did he typically read things before signing them? WESTERHOUT: “Um, y-yes”
44/ Phang:
MANGOLD: Did mr. trump use social media while he was in the white house?
WESTERHOUT: He did yes. Primarily Twitter, now called X
MANGOLD: Did mr. trump post tweets himself using that twitter handle? WESTERHOUT: He did yes.
MANGOLD: Did he post things himself? WESTERHOUT: Yes
45/ Phang:
MANGOLD: Did anyone else have access to ealdonaldtrump in 2017? WESTERHOUT: My understanding is that Dan Scavino had access. MANGOLD: Did you ever see Mr. Scavino post a tweet without mr. trump’s approval? WESTERHOUT: I didn’t see the president or dan post every single tweet.
46/ Phang:
WESTERHOUT: If Dan [Scavino] wasn't available or around, the president would call me in and dictate a tweet to me, and then I would go back to my computer and type it up and print it out, and give it back to him so he could go over it.
“[Trump] liked to use exclamation points”
MANGOLD: Did he have particular preferences to his posts? WESTERHOUT: Certain words he liked to capitalize including "Country", he liked to use dots for a comma
47/ Phang:
Q: How frequently were you in touch with Trump Org A: Rhona and I spoke at least weekly sometimes daily at beginning of 2017. But that drifted off as I got into role. I was an intermediary when Trump had questions for Trump Org employees and vice versa. Rhona and i coordinated on his travel schedule, golf schedule, personal mail, the first family’s schedule, his calendar, his contacts.
48/ Phang:
Westerhout confirms Trump's contacts list, including Allen Weisselberg, David Pecker, and Michael Cohen, and...Jeanine Pirro.
Westerhout testifies about a 2/5/17 email to Michael Cohen confirming a meeting between Cohen and Trump and asking for the kind of details necessary for admitting a guest to the White House. Westerhout does not specifically recall seeing Cohen when he came, but she agrees the meeting happened.
49/ Phang:
PEOPLE’S EXHIBIT 319 TEXT MESSAGE BETWEEN HOPE HICKS AND WESTERHOUT WESTERHOUT TEXT TO HICKS: “Hey the president wants to know if you called David pecker again?”
50/ Phang:
MANGOLD: What is your understanding of how Mr. trump’s personal expenses were handled in 2017? WESTERHOUT: it is my understanding they were handled by checks that were sent from the trump organization to Keith Schiller, and then sent to me for the president to sign.
51/ Phang:
MANGOLD: what did you do when you recived the checks? WESTERHOUT: The checks came in a fed ex envelope, so i opened the envelope and inside is a manilla folder with a stack of checks, and i brought the folder in for him to sign.
MANGOLD: Anything other than checks? WESTERHOUT: I didn’t really dig around in the folder, but there were invoices attached to the check sometimes
52/ Phang:
MANGOLD: Did you ever see trump sign check WESTERHOUT: Yes sometimes
MANGOLD: Did mr. Trump sign checks by hand? WESTERHOUT: Yes
MANGOLD: What happened after mr. trump signed the checks WESTERHOUT: He would give it back to me and i would put it in a prelabeled return envelope and send it back to trump org.
Westerhout talks about how Trump would approve things as minor as a golf membership while he was in the Oval Office.
53/ Phang:
MANGOLD: trump’s reaction to stormy daniels story? WESTERHOUT: “I remember he was very upset by it.”
MANGOLD: Do you recall if mr. trump spoke to michael cohen around the time the story came out WESTERHOUT: I believe they spoke around that time yes
MANGOLD: Did you interact with mrs trump WESTERHOUT: I did, yes. WESTERHOUT: “He was my boss but she was definitely the one in charge”
54/ A LOT more detail from McB:
How would you describe Trump and Melania's relationship?
It was one of mutual respect, he cared about her opinion,
and there was no one else who could put him in his place.
He was my boss, but she was in charge. Their relationship was really special, they laughed a lot.
55/ Sorry, now catching up to McB. A lot.
Q: Did Trump's relationship with Melania change when the Stormy Daniels story came out?
A: Not to my knowledge, no.
Westerhout begins to break down and cry as she recounts the circumstances of her departure from the White House.
She learned a lot from her "indiscretions," she says.
56/ McB:
She had said some things she wasn't supposed to during what she believed to be an off-the-record dinner with a reporter, she says.
She wipes her tears. She seems genuinely regretful about the whole episode.
She wrote a book about it, she says, her voice shakey and faultering, and we see the cover now displayed:
Off the Record: My Dream Job at the White House, How I Lost It, and What I Learned
57/ McB:
She thought it was important to share with the American people that the man that I got to know. I don't think he was treated fairly, and I wanted to tell that story she says, through more tears.
Since publication, Westerhout says she spoke to Trump at a fundraiser in Orange County, but says that she did not discuss this case.
No further questions from Mangold.
58/ McB:
Before she walks up to the lectern, Necheles asks whether Westerhout would like a break.
No, Merchan says, but we're going to stop at 4 o'clock.
Q: You were very young, and you made a mistake?
A: Yes.
Q: You thought he was great to work for, and a great president?
A: Yes, she says, more tears.
59/ McB:
Back to the 2016 nomination, the transition, and the Access Hollywood tape.
Q: You testifed that it rattled the RNC leadership, and there were a couple days of consternation, but that happened all the time?
A: Yes.
Q: When Trump was running, there was always some event when—Necheles claps her hands and wipes them clean—there was total consternation.
She is familiar, friendly with Westerhout. Much friendlier than she was with Daniels, (of course).
60/ McB:
Necheles reminds Westerhout of Trump's apology for "locker talk," and that he said he would see everyone at debates and Westerhout laughs, as if she remembers it fondly.
The Access Hollywood tape "blew over in a couple days," and after that Trump won the election right?
A: Yes.
61/ McB:
The clock is ticking, we have 9 minutes left according to Merchan, and Merchan is always on time, if not early.
Necheles talks fast, getting more questions in. It was a busy time? Yes. You were called "the greeter girl," correct? Yes. Wasn't it a little belittling? Yeah.
I tried not to let it get to me, but people said I was unqualified, Westerhout says about the "greeter girl" nickname.
62/ McB:
Trump was also transitioning his companies into a trust, Necheles asks, but Westerhout says, not to her knowledge. She wasn't involved in the business side.
Westerhout says Trump only had two and a half months to transition from running the Trump Organization to becoming president. Necheles keeps portraying it as a hectic, busy time, with lots of distractions.
63/ McB:
It was amazing working with Trump, she says, smiling. I think—I—I hadn't spent any time with him, I don't know if anyone should feel like they deserve they should be in the West Wing, but Trump always made me feel like I belonged, especially in a place with a lot of older men.
64/ McB:
We now get a portrait of Trump, the family man.
He had a close relationship with his children, and a lovely relationship with his wife? Yes, definitely, Westerhout says.
Westerhout paints a touching scene: Trump would be on the phone w/ his wife, & would tell her to come to the window in the residence, where she could look across and see Trump in the Oval Office. He would also call his wife to tell her he's boarding AF1, though he didn't have to
65/ Just... wow.
McB:
Right on schedule, Merchan stops it there.
We end with an image of Trump the family man from Westerhout's testimony, which couldn't be further from this morning's depiction of Trump the philanderer and bully of Daniels' testimony.
66/ Bower:
The jurors are done, but the parties are not.
Merchan says we'll take a 10 minute break. When we return, I assume Blanche will raise the issues he alluded to at lunch regarding (1) Renewed mistrial motion, (2) blocking McDougal's testimony, and (3) a gag order matter.
Translation
said in this room, it should happen in this room, not out there, Conroy says.
It was amazing working with Trump, she says, smiling. I think—I—I hadn't spent any time with him, I don't know if anyone should feel like they deserve they should be in the West Wing, but Trump always made me feel like I belonged, especially in a place with a lot of older men.