Arthur Schwartz, a GOP Strategist, has alleged that The Washington Post’s White House bureau chief Philip Rucker leaked off-the-record conversations with President Donald Trump’s recently-ousted personal secretary, Madeleine Westerhout, to reporters.
In an unexpected move, 28-year-old Westerhout, who was Trump’s longtime personal assistant, resigned from her role on Aug. 29 after Trump found out that she shared details about his family and about Oval office operations to journalists in an off-the-record dinner that took place near Bedminster, New Jersey, while Trump was on a working vacation on Aug. 17.
“I’ve heard from two reporters that Philip Rucker is the one that burned Madeleine Westerhout. A couple of people in the WH told me the same,” wrote Schwartz in a message on Twitter on Aug. 29.
Schwartz alleged there were four journalists present in that off-the-record dinner with Westerhout and Rucker was the only one who breached the agreement.
“The WH should exclude @PhilipRucker and @jdawsey1 from future off the record discussions with POTUS or any other WH official. Those two simply can’t be trusted,” he said.
“Rucker broke his off the record agreement with the disgraced former WH staffer by sharing with @jdawsey1.Dawsey then shared w/ anyone that would listen. Consistent with your standards & policies, @washingtonpost? @whca?” he said.
Trump on Saturday called Westerhout as a “good person” and said she called him to apologize and that he has forgiven her.
Earlier on Friday, before leaving for Camp David, Trump had called Westerhout’s abrupt departure an “unfortunate” episode and said her comments about his family were a “little bit hurtful.” He also criticized the press for being “dishonest” and making Westerhout’s off-the-records comments public.