Kayleigh McEnany Attempts to ‘Avoid Trump After Election: Ex -Aide
- Sarah Matthews stated that Kayleigh McEnany, White House Press Secretary, had told her to stay away from Trump after the election.
- Matthews stated that Trump had pressured McEnany about conspiracy theories regarding Dominion.
- Matthews stated that McEnany was worried about violating Hatch Act from the White House podium.
According to testimony by an ex-Trump aide, the White House Press Secretary tried to avoid Donald Trump after the 2020 presidential election. He was trying convince her to talk from the White House podium about election fraud claims.
Sarah Matthews was the White House deputy press secretary at the time of 2020 elections. A new transcript of Matthews’ testimony to the House committee investigating Capitol riot was released by the House committee. It included Matthews’s description about how Kayleigh McEnany, White House press secretary, managed the president during the following weeks.
Matthews claimed McEnany was trying to avoid Trump post-election. According to the transcript, Matthews also stated that Trump “wanted her briefings at the podium about campaign, and wanted to talk about Dominion.”
Dominion Voting Systems, which supplies election technology, was at center of conspiracy theories that Trump and his associates promoted about election fraud. Dominion filed defamation lawsuits against several Trump aides, including Rudy Giuliani (Mike Lindell), Sidney Powell and Fox News.
Matthews claims that McEnany tried to limit her interactions with Trump by avoiding addressing Dominion’s claims in an official White House briefing.
Matthews testified McEnany confided to her that he was asking for those kinds of requests. McEnany did not feel comfortable talking about Dominion claims, as it would be a violation of the Hatch Act for him to address the White House podium. Executive branch employees are prohibited from engaging in political activities in any capacity.
Matthews said that McEnany continued to do media interviews on election fraud claims because she felt she could make the distinction between her government position, and her personal capacity. McEnany was at that time serving as Trump’s campaign spokesperson and White House press secretary.
Neil Cavuto, Fox News’s host at the time cut off an interview with McEnany and made unsubstantiated allegations of election fraud. McEnany claimed that Trump would attend his “own” inauguration during another Fox News interview, after Biden had won the election.
Thursday’s January 6 committee release the transcript of Matthews testimony along with Chris Krebs and Mark Esper testimony.