Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the power dynamics, personnel decisions and policy deliberations of Donald Trump’s White House.
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Senior leadership at the White House has started setting expectations — and they’re a bit more sober than past administrat…
Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the power dynamics, personnel decisions and policy deliberations of Donald Trump’s White House.
Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Sophia | Email Irie | Email Ben
Senior leadership at the White House has started setting expectations — and they’re a bit more sober than past administrations.
White House legislative affairs staffers and others in external-facing roles have been strongly discouraged from drinking with members of Congress, according to two people granted anonymity to discuss internal White House decisions.
The new guidelines — a departure from past administrations, including DONALD TRUMP’s first term — were conveyed to staffers individually and verbally.
"We strongly urged everyone in the legislative affairs office and everyone who’s externally facing to be thoughtful about their alcohol use in public, and specifically with members,” one of the people said. “We strongly discouraged drinking with members.”
The Office of Legislative Affairs — the liaison between the White House and the Hill — is led by director JAMES BRAID and deputy directors JAY FIELDS; JEFFREY FREELAND, who covers the House; and PACE McMULLAN, who covers the Senate.
It was not immediately clear how many staffers in total the new guidelines would apply to or what prompted the policy.
“It’s a free country, but we represent the White House and the president and that’s best done sober,” the person said, reiterating that the White House still expects its staffers to be social, accessible and responsive.
“Is one drink a fireable offense? We’ll have to see what happens,” they said in an implicit acknowledgement of the reality that Washington is a town that runs on relationships formed during boozy social functions.
A White House spokesperson declined to comment.
The president is a non-drinker whose beverage of choice is a Diet Coke, which he imbibes freely. Trump also lost his brother FRED TRUMP JR. to alcoholism, a tragedy which Trump says became a driving force behind his first administration’s war on the opioid crisis.
“I don’t know that I would be working, devoting the kind of time and energy and even the money we are allocating to it … I don’t know that I’d be doing that had I not had the experience with Fred,” Trump told the Washington Post in 2019.
No such rule against drinking with members existed under former President JOE BIDEN, a former Biden administration official said.
And there wasn’t one during the president’s first term.
A former Trump White House staffer on the Office of Legislative Affairs team granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter recalled reminders about responsible drinking going out after “a few occasions where people had too much to drink,” but there was no formal policy.
MESSAGE US — Are you A STAFFER WHO'S REALLY UPSET ABOUT THIS NEW DRINKING GUIDANCE? We want to hear from you. And we’ll keep you anonymous! Email us at westwingtips@politico.com.
Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the power dynamics, personnel decisions and policy deliberations of Donald Trump’s White House.
Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Sophia | Email Irie | Email Ben
Senior leadership at the White House has started setting expectations — and they’re a bit more sober than past administrations.
White House legislative affairs staffers and others in external-facing roles have been strongly discouraged from drinking with members of Congress, according to two people granted anonymity to discuss internal White House decisions.
The new guidelines — a departure from past administrations, including DONALD TRUMP’s first term — were conveyed to staffers individually and verbally.
"We strongly urged everyone in the legislative affairs office and everyone who’s externally facing to be thoughtful about their alcohol use in public, and specifically with members,” one of the people said. “We strongly discouraged drinking with members.”
The Office of Legislative Affairs — the liaison between the White House and the Hill — is led by director JAMES BRAID and deputy directors JAY FIELDS; JEFFREY FREELAND, who covers the House; and PACE McMULLAN, who covers the Senate.
It was not immediately clear how many staffers in total the new guidelines would apply to or what prompted the policy.
“It’s a free country, but we represent the White House and the president and that’s best done sober,” the person said, reiterating that the White House still expects its staffers to be social, accessible and responsive.
“Is one drink a fireable offense? We’ll have to see what happens,” they said in an implicit acknowledgement of the reality that Washington is a town that runs on relationships formed during boozy social functions.
A White House spokesperson declined to comment.
The president is a non-drinker whose beverage of choice is a Diet Coke, which he imbibes freely. Trump also lost his brother FRED TRUMP JR. to alcoholism, a tragedy which Trump says became a driving force behind his first administration’s war on the opioid crisis.
“I don’t know that I would be working, devoting the kind of time and energy and even the money we are allocating to it … I don’t know that I’d be doing that had I not had the experience with Fred,” Trump told the Washington Post in 2019.
No such rule against drinking with members existed under former President JOE BIDEN, a former Biden administration official said.
And there wasn’t one during the president’s first term.
A former Trump White House staffer on the Office of Legislative Affairs team granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter recalled reminders about responsible drinking going out after “a few occasions where people had too much to drink,” but there was no formal policy.
MESSAGE US — Are you A STAFFER WHO'S REALLY UPSET ABOUT THIS NEW DRINKING GUIDANCE? We want to hear from you. And we’ll keep you anonymous! Email us at westwingtips@politico.com.