Daily Beast: Top Trump Aide Ditches the White House as Exodus Speeds Up

MAGA deputy chief of staff has spent years honing Donald Trump’s message.

One of Donald Trump’s most high-profile staffers has joined the growing line of people leaving the White House.

Taylor Budowich has spent years helping to build and lead Trump’s messaging to his MAGA faithful and the world.

Budowich—a deputy chief of staff who ran communications, cabinet affairs, and speechwriting, and was a close ally of Vice President JD Vance—is departing at month’s end, multiple outlets have reported.

He plans to return to the private sector after years at Trump’s side, including helming the main pro-Trump super PAC through most of 2023 and 2024, according to Axios and The New York Times.

The departure is striking, given his close relations with Chief of Staff Susie Wiles’ operation, and his years leading Trumpworld messaging.

When the Daily Beast contacted the White House for comment, they provided quotes from four of Budowich’s former colleagues.

While Trump was notable by his absence, Wiles said, “Taylor is a dear friend, and I know that President Trump holds him in very high regard. I hate to see him go, personally and professionally, but obviously wish him well in whatever he decides is next.”

Vance said Budowich is “someone I’ve personally relied on countless times during an amazing first year in office.”

Stephen Miller, a fellow deputy chief of staff, also praised him for his loyalty to Trump.

Another deputy chief of staff, Dan Scavino, described Budowich as a “vital asset in Trump 2.0.”

His exit follows a string of high-profile departures from Trump’s second-term power structure.

The White House’s principal deputy communications director, Alex Pfeiffer, quietly walked last week having joined the White House in January.

The MAGA supporter left to join PR shop Watchtower Strategy, whose partner Arthur Schwartz said, “Alex is one of the most effective communicators in the Republican Party, and we’re thrilled to share his talents with our clients.”

On the national-security side, retired Green Beret Mike Waltz—who flamed out as national security adviser in May after a Signal-chat fiasco—was confirmed two days later as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Beyond the West Wing, personnel turbulence has rippled through the administration.

It was reported this week that DOJ chief of staff Chad Mizelle—an ally of Stephen Miller—is set to depart after just 10 months, having helped drive attorney general Pam Bondi’s hard-edge agenda before deciding to return to Florida.

The comings and goings follow Elon Musk’s brief, chaotic imprint on Trump’s bureaucracy as the head of DOGE—as well as its messy fall-out that saw other high-visibility figures purged, before the government begged hundreds of government workers fired by DOGE to come back.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/top-donald-trump-aide-ditches-the-white-house-as-exodus-speeds-up

New York Times: As White House Steers Justice Dept., Bondi [Bimbo #3] Embraces Role of TV Messenger

Attorney General Pam Bondi [Bimbo #3] has adopted a conspicuously performative approach, willing to execute White House directives with little fuss.

Pam Bondi [Bimbo #3], the attorney general of the United States, circled the Roosevelt Room in late February, handing out bulky white binders labeled “Epstein Files: Phase 1” to a conclave of Trump-allied influencers summoned to the White House for their first visit.

That Ms. Bondi [Bimbo #3], the nation’s top law enforcement official, would prioritize a case of importance primarily to conspiracy theorists was telling. Anxious to appease the restive MAGA base, she hyped the disclosure as “breaking news” on Fox the night before, part of an effort to fulfill President Trump’s campaign promise to reveal new details on the financier Jeffrey Epstein’s misdeeds and death.

It was a dud. There were “no bombshells,” she said, according to one of those invited.

Later, activists on the right lashed out at Ms. Bondi [Bimbo #3]. She responded by blaming others, and then dispatched F.B.I. agents and prosecutors from the Justice Department’s national security division to scour the archives, officials familiar with the situation said. They found little. No one knows when Phase 2 is coming. But it is not likely to amount to much, those people said.

Since taking office as U.S. attorney general in early February, she has adopted a conspicuously performative approach to survive inside a Trump cabinet that rewards self-promotion, ritualized public flattery and, above all, a willingness to execute White House directives with little fuss.

Over the last few days, Ms. Bondi [Bimbo #3] signed off on Mr. Trump’s acceptance of a luxury Boeing 747-8 plane upgraded to serve as Air Force One donated by the Qatari royal family, which raised a host of ethical and legal questions. As a lobbyist, Ms. Bondi [Bimbo #3] herself received six-figure consulting fees from Qatar.

But her approach represents a noticeable departure from that of her predecessors at the Justice Department who saw themselves, to varying degrees, as guardians of institutional independence, attentive but not beholden to the presidency.

https://archive.is/fr5Xq#selection-4629.132-4629.368