By Mona Austin
Last Thursday, President Donald Trump's Administrative Assistant, Madeiline Westerhout lost her job unexpectedly.
First a note of clarification about her role at the White House. Initial reports referred to Westerhout as a "personal assistant," perhaps to distinguish that she worked directly with the president. Her official title was Director of Oval Office Operations, a job in which she earned $95-thousand a year.
What the firing taught us. . .
The situation led to a discussion on professional social media site LinkedIn about gossip in the work place and honoring confidentiality clauses. Trump isn't pressing his former assistant about any breaches. Losing a high profile job wit the world watching was punishment in this case, but for regular people, a legal battle could come out of talking too much. Talking about the boss or co-workers at time is normal, but I does go too far when you talk about family to the media, on or off record. It was reported that Westerhout "stepped down" but no employer is going to tolerate a worker disparaging their personal life on the job.
Likewise, the media acted in a gossipy way and is equally unacceptable. It would not have made what Westerhout did any better, but she is not the only responsible party here. "Off-the-record" means just that.
To bring you up to speed on this. . .
Politico reported that Westerhout, 28, over-shared details about Trump's relationship with both Tiffany and Ivanka in an off-the-record conversation over drinks with media in Bedminister, NJ last month during the president's vacation while having dinner with reporters at Grain and Cain. Westerhout had told reporters Trump did not like to take photos with his daughter Tiffany because she is overweight, a remark that violated the president's trust. She allegedly said the president has a better relationship with her than he does with his daughters and that he would not be able to pick Tiffany out of a crowd. (Just a reminder to those handful of folks who are not enamored by Trumptopia -- Tiffany is his younger daughter from his marriage to actress Marla Maples.) Mr. Trump found the comment "hurtful." POTUS took to Twitter to defend his youngest daughter, saying he loves Tiffany and that he forgives Madeline.
"She called me, she was very upset. She was very down," the president said about Westerhout. "And she said she was drinking a little bit and she was with reporters and everything she said was off the record."
Tiffany posted a cryptic poem about self-image on Twitter, presumable in her own defense.
Westerhout was not let go over the usual policy or personality clashes. In a casual moment outside of the office she broke trust and over-stepped her boundaries by discussing the Trump family.
At the going away event for former Press Sec. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Ms. Westerhout also spilled info to reporters, causing some to wonder if she was a leaker.
A slip of the tongue while drinking caused her to ex-communicate herself from the White House and potentially lose the trust of the entire Republican party as she is now perceived as disloyal.