Madeleine Westerhout was fired as Trump's assistant after making a comment to reporters about his daughter Tiffany.
Madeleine Westerhout was President Trump's gatekeeper and personal assistant for more than two years. Now she's sharing her story about being pushed out of the White House for making comments about his daughter Tiffany.
"I made a mistake and I had one bad night," Westerhout said. "And after a couple drinks by the pool on a rare day off I accepted an invitation to dinner with reporters, an off-the-record dinner with reporters, and said some things I shouldn't have said and that I absolutely didn't mean."
Now she wishes she never said the president didn't like to take photos with his youngest daughter because of her weight.
"No, absolutely not, that's not true. The president loves all of his children and he's incredibly protective and a loving father," Westerhout said.
When asked about where the comment came from, Westerhout said, "I was in a position where I wasn't used to dealing with reporters and to be completely honest, I think I got a little big for my britches that night and said some things that probably I was hoping would catch the attention of the reporters."
Her comments made it back to the president and she was asked to resign.
"Tiffany's great, I love Tiffany!" Trump said at the time.
Westerhout has authored a new book about the ordeal called "Off the Record: My Dream Job at the White House, How I Lost It, and What I Learned."
"I think the lesson that I learned after I left the White House was that mistakes are gonna happen, there's gonna be bumps in the road, we're all human and for a long time I thought that this one night was going to define me. And then I decided I'm not going to let that happen," she said.
The following paragraph is an excerpt directly from Westerhout's new book:
"DC will always be a place that I cherish. It is where I truly matured, got my first job, fell in love, and experienced heartbreak.
So much has happened since I left the White House, and not just the COVID-19 epidemic. Part of me yearns to go back, to walk the hallways between the West Wing and East Wing, to hear that distinctive voice from the Oval Office, ready with another hysterical tweet: “Madeleine, bring your pad.”
Another part says: No way! I start to feel anxious when I even think about it. I enjoy having a balanced life, and I’m not convinced that if I were to go back, I wouldn’t slip back into my old ways.
During those early weeks and months I wondered: Who am I away from the White House? Away from Donald Trump?
I’m still trying to figure that out, but I know one thing: I am more than my job. I wasn’t sure of that a year ago."
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