Trump Technology Aide Is Latest to Exit Turbulent White House
By
Toluse Olorunnipa
Reed CordishPhotographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
A senior technology aide to President Donald Trump is
stepping down, the latest in a growing list of top officials to depart a
turbulent White House in recent days.
Reed
Cordish, an ally of Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared
Kushner, is leaving his post as assistant to the president for
intergovernmental and technology initiatives, the White House said
Friday. Cordish will be replaced by Brooke Rollins, the president and
CEO of Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank.
“Reed
has been invaluable to the Administration. His leadership on
initiatives ranging from work-force development to Prison Reform to
modernizing key VA services will have a positive impact for millions of
Americans,” Kushner said in a statement, using an acronym for the
Department of Veterans Affairs. “Reed and I have been working closely
with Brooke Rollins in her role as President & CEO of Texas Public
Policy Foundation on Prison Reform and she is well prepared to continue
executing on our key initiatives.”
Cordish’s departure, reported earlier by the Washington Post,
comes as the White House has faced an exodus of high-level staff in
recent weeks and a scandal over its handling of domestic abuse charges
and security clearances. In the past month alone, the administration has
seen the departure of its deputy national security adviser, a senior
speechwriter, the staff secretary and a special assistant for
international energy and environmental policy, among others.
Staff
secretary Rob Porter resigned earlier this month amid accusations he
abused his two former wives. Porter has denied the allegations.
In
his role, Cordish worked on a wide range of projects in the White
House, including technology policy, science, government organization and
the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Cordish, whose family runs
the Baltimore-based real-estate firm Cordish Cos., is one of the
wealthiest members of the Trump administration, according to White House
financial disclosures. He did not take a salary.
Rollins, who has
led the Texas Public Policy Foundation since 2003, previously worked
for Energy Secretary Rick Perry when he was the governor of Texas.
Trump Allies Covered Up Affair With Ex-Playboy Model, Report Says
By
Terrence Dopp
Magazine details payoffs, effort to keep story out of media
Author Ronan Farrow wrote of Harvey Weinstein abuse claims
Trump Allies Paid for Playmate's Affair Story, New Yorker Says
Donald Trump carried
on an extra-marital relationship with a former Playboy model before
entering politics, and his allies used payoffs and legal settlements to
keep reports out of the media, according to a magazine story by one of the first writers to report on the sexual-abuse allegations against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.
Karen
McDougal kept handwritten notes about the affair, which she said began
in 2006, when Trump taped an episode of his reality show “The
Apprentice” at the Playboy Mansion, Ronan Farrow reported in a New
Yorker article published Friday. She reportedly was paid $150,000 by
National Enquirer publisher American Media, Inc. for the story, which never ran.
Karen McDougal
Photographer: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images North America
McDougal’s
story has similarities to recent reports that Trump’s personal lawyer,
Michael Cohen, made a $130,000 payment ahead of the 2016 election to
Stephanie Clifford, an adult-film actress who appears on-screen under
the name Stormy Daniels.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders didn’t immediately
respond to an email seeking comment. “This is an old story that is just
more fake news. The President says he never had a relationship with
McDougal,” a White House spokesman told the New Yorker in a statement.
American Media is led by David Pecker, who is reported to be a close friend of Trump.
Farrow said
on NPR Friday that the agreement illustrates the “leverage” that
Pecker’s publications have over “the sitting president of the United
States.”
“They know where the bodies are buried,” Farrow said. Read More: Follow the Trump Administration’s Every Move
The New Yorker said it obtained notes by McDougal detailing
how she visited Trump at the Beverly Hills Hotel over a nine-month
period in 2006 and 2007. He always ordered steak and mashed potatoes at
these meetings and he offered to pay her after the first time they had
sex, her notes said, according to the report.
Weinstein, who faces
a wave of sexual-assault claims stretching back to the 1970s, was
ousted from his studio in October 2017 after the New York Times and the
New Yorker published accounts in which women accused him of sexual
harassment and rape. He has denied any non-consensual sexual activity.
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