Hannah Berner (2:57)

Michael.

Michael Wolff (2:58)

Joanna.

Hannah Berner (3:01)

So, so much to discuss. I'm still in Abu Dhabi for the bridge conference where we are discussing important things about misinformation and disinformation and where the media and the tech world has come to discuss such things.

Michael Wolff (3:18)

What a snore.

Hannah Berner (3:20)

What a snore. It's actually not a snore. I've never been here before. And it's, it's interesting and as you're always saying, it's where, it's where people come to look for money. And there are a lot of people here looking for money.

Michael Wolff (3:30)

Yeah, no, it'd be more interesting to talk about money than it would be to talk about media.

Hannah Berner (3:34)

But each of us, some talk of money. Polymarket said that the first firing of Trump's cabinet would be Kristi Noem. You know, do you have any thoughts on this?

Michael Wolff (3:46)

Well, my, my first, my first thought is that it's remarkable how long people have lasted. This is very un Trumpian behavior, the fact that all of these people have stayed in place. Now for coming on, we're coming up to the year mark, that's a long tenure in Trump world. So I think you have to ask, well, what's happening here? What has changed here? And I think that the answer is that he has successfully hired complete, utter, total lackeys. So what you get fired for mostly is you get fired for two things, maybe only one thing, and that is for getting too much press yourself for taking credit for being out front of Donald Trump. And I suppose, yes, if you disagree with him in private, but that's even less so because it's very hard to disagree with Donald Trump because he's obviously, as we've discussed, talking all the time. So it's really your outward demeanor. But all of these people have been, you know, from one to another to another to another, have been abject in their devotion to Donald Trump, their public devotion. So, I mean, which is interesting because none of these people are all sub competent in their own particular egregious way. But that doesn't get you fired, although we might be getting to that point. Pete Hagseth, you know, let's draw a red circle around Pete. And I would tend to think that Pete would be the first person to go. But, but there are someyeah, as you say, some betting, you know, the Kristi Noem factor. I mean, Kristi Noem is a spectacular idiot. I mean, among all of the idiots. And Trump has cornered the market on them. Kristi Noem. Kristi Noem may be the real thing. Remember, she's the shot the dog person.

Hannah Berner (6:26)

She's the shot the puppy person. Right. Wasn't the dog even a puppy the.

Michael Wolff (6:31)

Reason that she has been in this job? And remember. There was in terms of hiring someone to hire the shoot the dog person, the puppy person is. I mean, it took a lot of, a lot of, you know, that's a real counterintuitive move.

Hannah Berner (6:55)

Why did he hire Christine Ohm in this role? Because she was the governor of South Dakota. Can I just raise her nickname, which we coined at the Daily Beast, Ice Barbie, because she has a way of getting dressed up for the various things that ICE make her do or that she wants to go on and take.

Michael Wolff (7:17)

Video opportunities that puts her, should put her in the firing line right now. Because among among the unpopular aspects of the Trump administration and everything every day becomes more unpopular. But among the most unpopular things are these ICE raids because they're caught on camera. Masked men in black refusing to identify themselves, ripping people off the street, ripping people out of their homes, ripping families apart from. I mean, what's not to love? So. And she has become quite the face of that. But step back and say, well, why is she in this? In. Why does she have a cabinet post? She has a cabinet post because she has had a long running relationship. She's married. The person she's having this relationship with is. Is married. This person is a longtime Trump hanger on. I think that's pretty much how we would most accurately describe him. This is a man by the name of Corey Lewandowski, who was Trump's first kind of official campaign manager in 2016. He may have even started in 2015. And then he lasted forwell until he lasted until they pushed him out, but not before having relationships with other Trump, other Trump staffers. He is a, I don't know, he must be very attractive.

Hannah Berner (9:17)

He's a friendly man, I think it's fair to say, a friendly man. And when you say relationship, it's important to add that Kristi Naomi's denied that they're having an affair, but he travels with her wherever they go. And he's an unofficial adviser or he's an official adviser. He's got a limited number of days he can work with her, I believe.

Michael Wolff (9:38)

Yeah, I don't know. And I mean, I don't know. I mean, I think he is on the Homeland Department payroll, but I don't know that for sure. But he must be on somebody's payroll. In thei mean he washe had worked himself backi mean he' sthe people in Trump world are always pushing him out. They hate him.

Hannah Berner (10:01)

And why do they hate him? In a world where everybody hates everybody, why do theythey're united in their hate for Trump?

Michael Wolff (10:10)

They hate Corey Lewandowski more. And I think that he is even more than the other duplicitous people around Donald Trump. He is even more so, and he is even more feral in his efforts to be the person closest to Donald Trump.

Hannah Berner (10:41)

And the reason that we're talking about him is because is he the reason that Kristi Noem got the job?

Michael Wolff (10:47)

Yes, absolutely. So this was Amy, it was a fatal to him. No, and it's interesting. So he came back into the, he was outside of the campaign or had limited purchase on the campaign, but then somehow he got Trump to as a kind of a, he needed a paycheck. So, you know, Trump called up the campaign, called up Susie Wiles and said, you know, poor Cory. So they had to make a job for Cory. And then lo and behold, as soon as they made the job, then Cory started to announce far and wide that he was taking over the campaign. And then he would stalk around the headquarters in Palm beach asking people what they do, moving desks. It wasand this wasi have to remember exactly when this, I think this was in August of the 2024, the entire campaign organization became, went into chaos. Who was Corey? What was he doing here? Who did he report to? Who was in charge? Was he here because Trump wanted him to be here, or was he here just because he's Cory and he's an asshole and nobody could figure this out. And then finally, the campaign leadership approached Trump and they said, basically, we're going to quit if you don't get rid of this, if you don't do something about this. So Corey was sent packing. But to be sent packing in Trump world is a strange thing, because if you're, you don't really, even if you, even if the entire organization rejects you, you may not have been rejected by Trump himself. Because if you are flattering enough, if you are abject enough, if you are perceived as loyal in the way Trump demands you to be loyal, then you remain Trump's guy. So Cory has been pushed out of Trump world, but not out of Trump's own world, if you know what I mean.

Hannah Berner (13:13)

Okay. Which means himself working very closely with him. But then Donald Trump has his own circle of people.

Michael Wolff (13:20)

Exactly, exactly. Ok. You know, that's how Rudy Giuliani in the last administration got disastrously central to what was going on. So Corrie, when Trump was reelected, and then Corrie, this was Cory's piece of patronage, was to get his girlfriend a job.

Hannah Berner (13:47)

In sum, okay, so she's now sitting atop Homeland Security. Yes.

Michael Wolff (13:54)

And so we don't know if we can say girlfriend because they deny. So they have denied this. No one that I know in the greater universe takes that denial seriously. But they have denied this.

Hannah Berner (14:08)

Okay, well, we should report that they have denied it.

Michael Wolff (14:12)

That they have denied it. Okay, have they denied it?

Hannah Berner (14:15)

I believe.

Michael Wolff (14:15)

I believe they've denied it.

Hannah Berner (14:17)

They've definitely denied it. So Kristi Noem, background governor, former governor of South Dakota, is in parity of Homeland Security.

Michael Wolff (14:31)

She's a, again, this is just head smacking. A person who has no experience, patently no talent, is a famous, even in Trump world, a famous dummy. There she is at the head of a very vital part of the government in the United States and of particularly of Trump's government, because immigration essentially, which the portfolio she holds is so central to what they are trying to accomplish.

Hannah Berner (15:11)

Well, so she's in charge of border security and she's in charge of the ICE raids, which, as you say, have become wildly unpopular, largely because the videos that have spread on social media are heartrending of people being knocked to the floor of these terrifying figures in masks arresting people, of choppers coming down in Chicago late at night and just the performative nature of some of these arrests.

Michael Wolff (15:39)

Yeah, you know, and this is against the background. People have a lot of conflicting views on immigration. And obviously the Democrats have botched that issue entirely and completely, arguably allowing Donald Trump to become the President of the United States. I mean, this is his. He has made it his issue and it remains singularly important to him. And so why would he then go about the business of completely undermining the consensus that he has achieved there by having, let's just think this through, men in mask in black who refuse to identify themselves, who are out on the streets engaged in all kinds of extralegal, you know, Gestapo like behavior. This is going to win your friends. It's beyond me.

Hannah Berner (16:47)

Yeah. And also what's striking about ICE Barbie, as we refer to Christine O. And thanks to our editor Martha for coming up with that title. She appears to love dressing up in costume, in the costume of whoever she's going out with. So it might be the ICE people, it might be the Coast Guard. She loves turning up with a gun. She loves turning up on horseback. She loves turning up with a big American cowboy hat on and playing a role as if she's, well, as if she's a Barbie doll alongside, alongside the, I don't know if you call them troops, whatever you call them, but alongside her, her employees in her department. And as if the only thing that matters is her dressing in an appropriate costume. It's quite extraordinary.

Michael Wolff (17:41)

And let's go back to this friendship she has with Corey Lewandowski, how that has not been, you know, I don't know, a scandal. I mean, there's some, at some level, Trump has, in the Trump administration has broken all middle class requirements.

Hannah Berner (18:06)

Does Susie Wiles, who's supposed to have everything under control at the White House, what does she have to say about this?

Michael Wolff (18:14)

Well, I mean, you know, the Susie, and this is a good subject, and I think this is an underreported subject that Susie Wiles, who has been given an enormous amount of credit for the relative efficiency, I think you might be able to call it, of the first year, has now. I mean, there are lots of reports that she's been, That she's being pushed somewhat to the side.

Hannah Berner (18:47)

Oh really? Because she's Chief of Staff. I mean, the first, famously the first female Chief of staff.

Michael Wolff (18:52)

Right. But, you know, so her idea of the Chief of staff and her in her own longevity in this role, remember there are four chiefs of staff in the first Trump White House is because she's not the Chief of staff. I mean, she has sort of set her up as the first, I would say the first, the chief administrator.

Hannah Berner (19:20)

So she's not actually being so foolish as to think that she has any real decision making power, which was a bit like, isn't that what the first four chiefs of staff and the first administration ran into, that they actually thought they were going to behave like normal chiefs of staff?

Michael Wolff (19:38)

In a typical White House structure, the President is the CEO, the Chief of Staff is the coo, and part of, part of the portfolio of the Chief of staff is to be the top adviser to the President of the United States in addition to be the person who gets the train, who implements policy and who is the essential boss of everybody in the executive branch. She has not done that. She doesn't advise the President of the United States. She is, has been very careful about overstepping anyone in the executive branch who might have a direct relationship with the President of the United States. And the thing that is, I think has most come back to shadow her is a perception that, that she is interested most of all in protecting herself rather than in protecting the President. So it's a kind of. I mean, I think that that has probably helped the first year. She has been that person who is, you know, she's an administrator. She has gone out there, she has made the trains run on time, which they.

Hannah Berner (21:04)

So, but when you say she's an administrator, what is she administrating? What does that actually mean?

Michael Wolff (21:11)

Meetings, schedules, when things have to be done, how do you get them done? Whose responsibility are they? You know, the person in the back room who is making sure that everybody else is on top of what they should be on top of. You know, any organization needs this kind of person. And Trump's organizations have typically not had this person, but they have had her, and she has done, you know, she's done a pretty good job. But thei mean her. And certainly throughout the campaign, people would say this, that it doesn't matter what you say about the president President, it just matters what you say about Susie, for Susie Wiles. And that has now begun tothat sense that she's looking out for, that she's number one, looking out for herself rather than looking out for Trump, which is a very hard thing to do because then you start to look after Trump and then you start to give him advice. Very bad idea.

Hannah Berner (22:26)

Very bad idea. So why is Kristine Noem in the hot seat? Why is she number one on polymarket's list of the first to be fired?

Michael Wolff (22:34)

I couldn't tell you because I would put, you know, so many other people certainly up there. You know, I mean, I think Hegseth, as I've said, should certainly be up there. RFK Jr. Oh, my God.

Hannah Berner (22:50)

Kash Patel.

Michael Wolff (22:50)

Kash Patel. Don't even mention it. Pam Bondi again and again and again and again.

Hannah Berner (22:59)

Such a rumble.

Michael Wolff (23:00)

So why should she, you know, there is that kind of thing. I mean, this would be the traditional way you look at an administration. Things start to go wrong, and things are, I mean, very clearly going wrong. The polls are against him. Every election so far has been a disappointment at best for him. So you shake things up. One of the things you do, you do that is, you know, you replace people. I mean, that's what you do in government. A it sends a signal, and then it also is, you know, it's helpful. It gives that sense of a new start. And, and, you know, all of thesei mean, certainly she'. Swell. You're not going to lose anything by getting rid of her. So she would be a good person to sacrifice.

Hannah Berner (24:01)

Okay. And then you could sort of reframe the border, which I think people believe is under control now and stop the ice raid so that you don't get that stream of very unsettling, unnerving videos in the run up to the midterms.

Michael Wolff (24:19)

Ye. But again there is that Trump thing that he takes no blame. Even he refuses the blame that might be apportioned to people around him. There is no blame. Nothing is wrong. Everything is great. Nothing is wrong. Nothing. So that makes it very hard for him to fire somebody. And a word from our sponsors.

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Michael Wolff (27:47)

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Hannah Berner (27:50)

Go digital enterprise and adapt to every change by combining the real and digital worlds. Transform the everyday With Siemez. And Michael Wolff and I are back. What else inside Donald Trump's head? Well, one of the reports I saw, I think perhaps in the Beast said that the current rumor was that Glenn Youngkin, the outgoing Republican governor of Virginia, was might end up being a plausible replacement for her. That could happen in the new year.

Michael Wolff (28:28)

Yeah, that seems unlikely to me. I mean, in other words, that would be going back to the first administration where you actually put out, you know, tried to find plausible people who would work for Donald Trump. So in the second administration that the strategy has been exactly the opposite of that. Forget plausibility. All you want are people who are going to be abject in their regard for Donald Trump. Donald Trump is the center of the universe. And if you have any doubts about that at all, you shouldn't, it's very clear you should not go into the administration. Glenn Youngkin is a, you know, he's a ambitious politician. You know, there are a scant few ambitious politicians in Trump world. I think the subject of the women around Trump is an interesting subject because they have been the people kind of most willing to be abject, most willing to kind of sign up to, you know, we are the women of Donald Trump and we have no pretense otherwise. We are here not because we have, we see an independent life for ourselves. We are here and we understand that we are here to exist only in the shadow of Donald Trump and to do and to try to please him as we can.

Hannah Berner (30:12)

Well, except there's been a bit of pushback to that, started by Marjorie Taylor Greene saying she's not going to be a battered wife. And then Lauren Boebert, another congresswoman, throwing her hands up in the air and saying this is a difficult administration for women and I might drop out, too. And then Nancy Mace got actually a bit of a slap on the wrist from the police in Charleston where she'd had a sort of breakdown at the airport and been screaming and effing and Blinding at people. And those three who all voted against Trump and demanded with Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna, the release of the Epstein files seem to be putting up a bit of resistance to Trump at the moment.

Michael Wolff (30:59)

Yeah, well, they are not in the administration. Let's make that that distinction.

Hannah Berner (31:05)

Okay, so that.

Michael Wolff (31:05)

And Trump hasi mean, I think that he has in his regard for these women is to see them in that light. They are acolytes of his women, acolytes of Donald Trump. I think what we've seen is that he has overestimated their willingness to be doormats. And that becomes an issue because he becomes resentful of that. In other words. So Marjorie Taylor Greene has now become somehow enemy number one from effectively doormat number one. Now she's enemy number one. And that's, remember, that's that Trump thing. It's all binary. You're with me or you're against me. If you're against me, I am against you. So I think we've seen that break there. The women who are in the administration, the cabinet members. Remain quiescent. Let's say Pam Bondi has not shown, has not shown any, any interest in an independent life. The idea of independence. I'm not sure she would even understand it or know what to do with it.

Hannah Berner (32:34)

Well, and of course, she has now been forced to hire your friend Elena Harbour, who got tossed from acting as the U.S. attorney in New Jersey. Although she said, strangely, you can take New Jersey out of what, what is that strange expression? You can take the girl out of New Jersey, but you can't take New Jersey out of the girl.

Michael Wolff (32:55)

Yes, what could that. I read, being from New Jersey, I puzzled over this, but following in the.

Hannah Berner (33:03)

Footsteps of Lindsey Halligan, who was illegally appointed as U.S. attorney in Virginia, Elena Harbour has now been. Well, she's resigned after being found that she was illegally acting U.S. attorney in New Jersey. What are your thoughts on this?

Michael Wolff (33:22)

Well, I mean, let's go. I mean, he's appointed these people who are patently unqualified. These are by any measure not top of the class people. They have. I mean, and these are, you know, a U.S. attorney's job is under. I mean, first thing, it is a very significant job. It's a very prestigious job and it's a complicated job. And so to put these people, and I was going to say put these women, but I took that back because, I mean, he would be delighted to put, in some instances, Haz put men of, of no caliber whatsoever in these jobs. But I think that he feels more comfortable with women than men. I think he feels more comfortable that women will be compliant, that women will be, will have no interest other than in doing what he wants to do. And I think that's what happened. Alina Habba certainly is that person and now. But he's setting up a kind of conflict now, a curious conflict, because I'm sure Pam Bondi does not want Alina Habba anywhere near her. First thing. She's, she's kind of, you know, I mean, poison goods at this point. But now she's beenpam. Bondi is kind of stuck. They had to do something with her. What are we going to do with Alina Habba? She can't, we can't, we can't sustain her presence in New Jersey, in the office in New Jersey anymore. It's all kinds of, I mean, the office is basically paralyzed. Nothing can get anything and nothing can get done here. We have nowhere else and we can't, we can't. There is no court that is going to say, yes, you can have Alina Habba as the US Attorney. So we have to do something.

Hannah Berner (35:43)

Poor old Pambondi's got a quiver of failed U.S. attorneys because she's also got Lindsey Halligan in there who famously just lost her case against Tisha James and James Comey.

Michael Wolff (35:54)

Right, so, so what are they going to do with Lindsey Halligan? I mean, Alina Habba has been a consistent kind of what are we going to do with Alina Habba? Question. From the first days, you know, she wanted to be the press secretary, campaigned hard for that job. Nobody wanted her to have that job.

Hannah Berner (36:16)

And why was that?

Michael Wolff (36:18)

Why didn't they want her to have that job? Well, during the campaign, Trump spent a lot of time trying to saying to Alina Habba, you have to clean up your language. You can't talk like that. People don't talk like that. Women don't talk like that. You know what you sound like? Because she swears a lot, constantly. Yes. It is not as if people haven't known that she is a not ready for primetime player. They have. And that's why she didn't get the most public facing job in the White House, which is the press secretary and.

Hannah Berner (37:05)

I think which has gone to Caroline Leavitt with her machine gun lips that Donald Trump loves so much.

Michael Wolff (37:12)

And then she wanted to be the, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. she didn't get that job. So there's a whole set of things. And then she got the prosecutor's job because, you know, that's What Trump has done, I mean, that's why, you know, all of these people, you know, that's one of his key issues. I need to control the prosecutor because I have people I want prosecuted who will do that. Really, in many instances, because he's tried again and again, and everybody quits or says no, he has to put in his own lackeys, these women who are not prosecutors, who are barely lawyers, and because they'll do what he wants to do. So that's how Alina Lena harbor got that job. But now, what to do with her?

Hannah Berner (38:11)

Okay, and what do we know about Brooke Rollins, the Agriculture Secretary who this week was announcing with Trump his $12 billion bailout to the farmers? Because the tariffs have meant that Chinese farmers have. Or the Chinese government have stopped ordering as much, certainly soybeans from American farmers. They've been very badly hit.

Michael Wolff (38:37)

Right. Well, Brooke Rollins ran the America First.

Hannah Berner (38:41)

Oh, pac.

Michael Wolff (38:42)

Yeah, yeah, afpi. So she ran that. And she was. And this is significant, she was Jared's person.

Hannah Berner (38:56)

Okay.

Michael Wolff (38:57)

And there was a moment during the campaign when she, Jared, her group floated the balloon that she was going to be the chief of staff. That was an interesting moment because everybody within the campaign was like. Like, where did that come from? That came from Jared. And that was an interesting moment because the fact that she did not become chief of staff was a signal that Jared was not ascendant. People were waiting for that signal. Is Jared going to come back into the White House? What is the nature of his power? So that was the signal that perhaps he was not ascendant. Now, this is complicated because Susie Wiles is also a Jared person, but she had more of an independent life than Brooke Rollins, who was entirely connected to Jared. Now, obviously, she got a big job. So Jared was not without influence within the White House. And his influence, which waxes in wanes, seems to be waxing again at this point. But that's the Brooke Rollins context. Well, let's go back to Pam Bondi a second, though, too, because, you know, I mean, Pam is, you know, is central. I mean, I would say that, you know, again, you know, this. The Justice Department and control over the Justice Department and control over the power, that is to say, the prosecution, the prosecutorial power of the Justice Department is central to Donald Trump at this point. And so he put Pam Bondi into this job. And, you know, again, remember, it was going to be Matt Gaetz and. And within the Trump circle, you know, I mean, Gates, everybody was going, oh, my God, you know, because, I mean, Matt Gaetz has Been has had so many problems and you know, I mean, drug problems allegations, underage sex allegations. I mean, just in a lightweight, a playboy, you know, strange looking with his eyebrows too.

Hannah Berner (41:38)

I mean, I wouldn't have thought that would appeal to Trump at all because he's not central casting for an ag.

Michael Wolff (41:44)

Oh, you know, I'm not sure about that. I mean, you know, I think the perception within the Trump world was that he, that Gates is actually handsome, a kind of rakish Florida playboy kind of guy.

Hannah Berner (42:00)

Really? I think he looks like someone from Star Trek.

Michael Wolff (42:02)

Well, okay, well, slightly. Each to his own outer space and you know, and clearly Pam Bondi does not look as you might think an Attorney General would look if you were casting this.

Hannah Berner (42:17)

But you're the one that's always saying that Donald Trump said, you know, I may not have the best lawyers, but I've got the hottest lawyers. And of course she was one of his personal lawyers. So she was also the U.S. attorney in Florida, right?

Michael Wolff (42:30)

She was, yes. But virtually everyone within the, within the White House. I mean this is, remember, it's Florida. You know, Florida makes an exception for almost every level of competence. But they would say that the only person less qualified to be the Attorney General in Florida than Matt Gaetz was Pam Bondi. And again, you know, she has been, she has displayed utter abject loyalty to Donald Trump. So Donald Trump' syou would say a key pillar of what he has wanted to do in the second administration was to take any aspect of independence from the United States Justice Department and let's take a commercial break.

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Hannah Berner (44:57)

Are those the cozy Tommy John pajamas you're buying?

Michael Wolff (45:00)

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Hannah Berner (45:07)

So generous.

Michael Wolff (45:08)

Well, I'm a generous girly, especially when it comes to me. So I'm grabbing the softest sleepwear, comfiest underwear, and best fitting loungewear.

Hannah Berner (45:16)

So nothing for your bestie?

Michael Wolff (45:18)

Of course, I'm getting my dad Tommy John. Oh, and you, of course, it's giving holiday gifting made.

Hannah Berner (45:24)

Easy.

Michael Wolff (45:24)

Exactly. Cozy, comfy, everyone's happy gift everyone on your list, including yourself, with Tommy john and get 40% off site wide right now@tommyjohn.com comfort.

Hannah Berner (45:39)

And Michael and I are back inside Trump's head. Michael, which cases did she work on for him? Because Elena Harbour did the Stormy Daniels case. Right. So what was Pam Bondi doing? Because I know she was his personal lawyer, too.

Michael Wolff (45:55)

You know, people say that she was the personal personal lawyer, and I'm, I'm sure that this is, that this is true, but certainly in the cases during theduring the campaign, I mean, the four indictments, I don't know, she was certainly not central to any of those cases.

Hannah Berner (46:16)

Okay, but she was still his personal lawyer.

Michael Wolff (46:19)

Yeah, I don't know. I mean, this seems to be now a generic title, Trump's personal lawyer. He was a personal lawyer because everybody, everybody isI mean, first thing, he hires so many lawyers, so it isit is possible. And whether that was, you know, she' syou know, whenever he gets a piece of advice that he doesn't like, he calls in another lawyer toyou know, he's always shopping for advice. But none of those cases, those four indictments, was she a, was she a central point person on.

Hannah Berner (46:57)

Okay, but she's certainly remaking the Justice Department as he wants her to do so.

Michael Wolff (47:03)

Well, yes, he is remaking just the deep loyalist department. And she is just going along. I really don't think that she has any, I mean, you know, I understand, you know, he's on the phone with her constantly, basically giving Orders, do this, do this, do this, do this.

Hannah Berner (47:19)

Well, and we saw the truth social post he put out, which was, in fact, I think, supposed to be a text to her because it started Pam, and then it was a long list of all the people he wanted indicted. And why was it all taking so long? Do you remember? And he.

Michael Wolff (47:33)

Yeah, no, it was really a text.

Hannah Berner (47:34)

To him and he to her, and he then put it out on social media.

Michael Wolff (47:38)

And that was basically, he was saying, letitia, James, James Comey.

Hannah Berner (47:42)

Comey, Jack Smith.

Michael Wolff (47:46)

Yeah, all of this, this, and obviously Letitia, James Comey and James, those have been thrown out because of just pure. The pure incompetence of not just. Not just the Justice Department, but mostly of Trump himself and the incompetence who he has put in to supersede the Justice Department. So even an abject Justice Department he might choose to supersede that. Nobody in the Justice Department will prosecute James Comey. So we'll, you know, rustle Lindsey Halligan out of her bed and put her in the job, which has been nothing less than catastrophic for them.

Hannah Berner (48:32)

I can't imagine what the Justice Department's holiday party can possibly be like. Do you think they still have one? Do you think Pam Bondi sort of buys?

Michael Wolff (48:42)

They probably do. And I think they should invite us.

Hannah Berner (48:47)

I would love to go. Where. Where do you think the holiday parties are going to be? Are they in the. I mean, what is Pete Hex's holiday party going to be like? Obviously, his wife will be there. She turns up.

Michael Wolff (49:00)

You know, I thought the whole idea, emotional support, wife.

Hannah Berner (49:04)

I mean, the. Just the imagination boggles at the holiday parties that must be going on in government to be apartments right now.

Michael Wolff (49:13)

Yeah. You know, I mean, and let's add the context here, too, that everybody is aware that things are going south.

Hannah Berner (49:23)

This is not the economy.

Michael Wolff (49:25)

People feel that this is not a good moment for Trump world. And until recently, it had been a very good moment.

Hannah Berner (49:39)

So, Michael, we have some questions for Melania.

Michael Wolff (49:42)

Okay, shoot.

Hannah Berner (49:43)

Here's one from Teece Gould. Melania, do you have a Social Security number? And when did you get it? Do you remember how much it cost, in brackets? Trick question. I like that. Where did you first meet Jeffrey Epstein? Where did you first meet Ghislaine Maxwell? Will you be able to subpoena. Should you subpoena some of Ghislaine Maxwell's siblings? She's one of seven.

Michael Wolff (50:13)

Yeah. I mean, if that'sif that's relevant. I mean, most of them don't live in the country. The Ones who do live in the country. Yeah, it's possible, sure.

Hannah Berner (50:24)

But didn't you think that the birthday letter had been leaked by one of her brothers?

Michael Wolff (50:30)

I do, but. But as I say, the brothers don't live in this country, so you can't.

Hannah Berner (50:35)

Subpoena people who live in the uk.

Michael Wolff (50:37)

Yeah, you can, but they don't have to come.

Hannah Berner (50:40)

Okay. Okay. But they might want to come because they're working very hard to get a pardon for their sister. Okay. So, Michael, this is from Eric in San Diego. The east wing of the White House has traditionally been used by the first. First lady and her staff. Did you agree to its destruction?

Michael Wolff (51:03)

Good question.

Hannah Berner (51:05)

We've had so many questions. We got a very thoughtful one from a German trauma therapist. That question was a little bit long to read out. Helena 17n71 says, Ask Melania if her husband has the qualifications to be a leader of this great country and what these credentials might be.

Michael Wolff (51:27)

Okay, I think we can get there.

Hannah Berner (51:30)

Okay. Jet619. Question for Melania. How does she feel about the odd burial of Ivana on the golf course? Does she think Ivana is really in that coffin? And does she want to be buried in his wife's cemetery as well?

Michael Wolff (51:45)

Exactly. That's a good. That's a good one. Where, if you're Melania Trump, do you want to spend eternity?

Hannah Berner (51:51)

Yes. And then Stephen Pemberton wants to know, asked Melania, what are the duties of a First Lady? Or alternatively, what was she told are the duties of a First Lady? What is her understanding of the duties of a First lady?

Michael Wolff (52:08)

Okay, good.

Hannah Berner (52:10)

Thank you. And I think we know that Christmas is certainly a duty of it. And she was reading, how does Santa come down the chimney? Does he wear night goggles or night vision goggles? No, Pete Hegseth wears those. I made that joke in our last podcast, but I quite liked it, so I thought I would make it again. It's just a strange thing to have a children's book. Night vision goggles. Why would children know what they were? They are a tool of the military. Very odd indeed.

Michael Wolff (52:39)

Yes. Anybody who has would like to kill. Contribute to the upcoming deposition of the First Lady. Please. We are taking suggestions. Ask what you would like.

Hannah Berner (52:56)

Okay. Well, Michael, we'll be back on Saturday with more info. Please call your friends in the White House and find out what's happening with the holiday parties. I'm very intrigued. Will it be like the holiday parties during COVID at number 10 Downing street, where SPADs, as they are known, special advisers, were taking in suitcases? Suitcases full of alcohol. The entire country was on lockdown. The Queen had to sit on her own the night before the funeral for her husband of 200 years, Prince Philip. Never has a monarch looked so frail as the Queen, sitting isolated in a mosque at the funeral in St George's Chapel in Windsor. And the night before, number 10, led by Boris Johnson, was throwing back as much alcohol as they could.

Michael Wolff (53:54)

The Brits party a lot better than the Americans. Any party in Washington D.C. pales before almost any other party. So. So I wouldn't get too excited about this.

Hannah Berner (54:09)

Well, all I can say is I'd never heard of a red solo cup before I moved to America. Brits do take partying quite seriously. And I'm always disappointed to miss holiday parties in Britain, actually, because much alcohol is consumed, much food is laid out, always lots of hands.

Michael Wolff (54:26)

Yes. Whereas. Whereas in the US the goal is to miss the holiday party.

Hannah Berner (54:32)

Your goal is to miss the holiday party.

Michael Wolff (54:34)

I think most people, if were they, to be honest, you know, people go to holiday parties, you know, dutifully.

Hannah Berner (54:42)

Well, I hope they don't go to the Daily Beast holiday party dutifully. We are definitely having a holiday party and you are coming to it, sir. You are definitely coming to. It's at a very groovy club. Yep. Yeah. It will certainly be the trendiest, coolest place you've been for a long time. We're going to drag you in from Amaganza. All right, well, if you have been, thank you for joining us. Don't forget to subscribe to the Daily Beast podcast. Please join our Daily Beast community. We are independent media, so we appreciate your support. And what else should we say, Michael?

Michael Wolff (55:17)

And we should thank our top level members. And they are. Sandra Clark, Methinks Travel with Carl Andrew Beaver, the Capinator Harry Clark Dawn McCarthy, Daniel dog lover M. Griner Fulvia Orlando Herbie Andrew Melor, Las Conde Bonzo Val Love, Francesco Andrea Hodel Bocock D.C. sharon Shipley, Connie Rutherford, Karen White, Heidi Riley. Thank you all. Thank you, Devin, Anna and Jesse. The longer you stay alive, the longer you can enjoy Boost Mobile's unlimited plan with a price that never goes up. So here are some tips. Do not parallel park on a cliff. If you want to enjoy an unlimited plan with a price that never goes up, do not mistake a wasp nest for a pinata. If you want to enjoy an unlimited plan with a price that never goes up, do not microwave a hard boiled egg. If you want to enjoy an unlimited plan with the price that never goes up, stay alive and enjoy Unlimited Wireless for 25amonth forever with Boost Mobile. After 30 gigs, customers may experience lower speeds. Customers will pay 25amonth as long as they remain active on the Boost Mobile Unlimited plan. Hi, this is Joe from Vanta. In today's digital world, compliance regulations are changing constantly and earning customer trust has never mattered more. Vanta helps companies get compliant fast and stay secure with the most advanced AI automation and continuous monitoring out there. So whether you're a startup going for your first SoC2 or ISO 27001 or a growing enterprise managing vendor risk, Vanta makes it quick, easy and scalable. And I'm not just saying that because I work here. Get started@vanta.com hey, it's Adam Grant from Ted's podcast Work Life, and this episode is brought to you by ServiceNow. AI is only as powerful as the platform it's built into. That's why it's no surprise that more than 85% of the Fortune 500 companies use the ServiceNow AI platform. While other platforms duct tape tools together, ServiceNow seamlessly unifies people, data workflows and AI connecting every corner of your business. And with AI agents working together autonomously, anyone in any department can focus on the work that matters Most. Learn how ServiceNow puts AI to work for people@servicenow.com Par Le Tu francais hablas espanol Parli Italiano if you've used Babbel, you would Babbel's conversation based technique teaches.

Hannah Berner (57:49)

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