Tag: America First Policies

An Oval Office meeting involving President Trump and his top advisers on Wednesday devolved into a heated exchange between his former campaign manager and the White House political director, people briefed on the discussion said. The meeting prompted the political director, Bill Stepien, to call an official at the main political group supporting Mr. Trump, America First Policies, to say its counsel should be involved at future gatherings. Mr. Lewandowski aggressively criticized the Republican National Committee, as well as several White House departments, five people briefed on the discussion said. He told the president that his government staff and political advisers at the party committee were doing little to help him, three of the people briefed on the meeting said. He pointed to, among other thinned-out departments, the Office of Public Liaison. Another attendee insisted that Mr. Lewandowski lashed out at nearly every department but the political shop. “A lot of people” have been telling the president that his White House team needs improvement, a person briefed on the meeting said. After the meeting, Mr. Lewandowski and Mr. Stepien got into an argument outside the Oval Office, continuing the exchange elsewhere on the White House grounds. But Mr. Stepien has his defenders, among them Mr. Kelly, who two attendees at the Oval Office meeting said was put off by Mr. Lewandowski’s criticism. So were other attendees of the meeting, according to two people present, although Mr. Trump did not appear to be one of them.