CONFIDENTIAL//NOFORN
I had dinner with President Trump In the Green Room at the White House last night at 6:30 pm. We sat facing each other at a small oval table set for two and placed in the center of the room. There ware two servers (who I had the chance to chat with a bit because I arrived about 10 minutes early; they were both retired Navy submariners and we had a fun discussion about height clearance in submarines}. The servers were only in the room when they delivered food or retrieved plates.
The conversation, which was pleasant at all times, was chaotic, with topics touched. 12R, then returned flu later, makinglt very diificuitto recount m a linear fashion. Normallyl can rec: l the pieces ol'a conversation and the order ordiscussion with high confidence, Here, given the nature orit. there is a distinct possibility that while I have the substanclla right, the order was slightly different. It really was coniteration-asalig$avauzzie in a way. with pieces picked up] then dlscardedi then
return ed to. l l
The President spot; an overwhelming majorle Dfllhe Elmer he never asked me an openrnded quesndn or lath: to me to choose a mpic orrunvarsntion There Werv almost no periods dfsllence dunng the 1 hour and 20 minutes, except once or twice when the Presidentlpahsed as the servers entered i felt cumiortable throughout althuugh never relaked, given the focus conversation required.
At various times, he talked about me inauguration and crowd size, the campaign and his effecfive use offlree. media ("earned media”), the extraordinary luxury of the White House (which he favorath compared to Mar-a-lago), his many activities during the day and ek, his young son‘s height the viciousness of the campaign (where l interjecte 'about Adams and lcfi‘etson; he said he had been given a hook abnul n, which wasnpsrairs), how he had not been mockan a handicapped reporter, had not i$aulwd any oftho women who claimed he did (reviewingin detail several ofthelallogntinns), and manyather things: 1 will attempt to recount in some detail only thclse parts that related in sonn- wayto my worlc
He touched on my future at various points. The first time he asked "so what do you wantm do," explaining that [as ufpeople wanted my job ("about 20 penvle"), that hethoughtvery highly ofme and had heard great things, that the people amid FBI really like me, butlte wauld understand ifl wanted to walk away given all I had been through, although h! thought that would be had for me personally because it would [link like I hall done something wrong that he ofcourse can make a rhdngi at FHl irhe wants, bullhe wants to know what I think. There was no nckntiwledgement by him [or me) thah'we had already talked about this twice, l lresponded by sawhg [bathe could fire me any time he wished, but that I wanted to stay and dc a job I lime and think i am doing welL l explained that i never expected to be back in govarrlment but had found this job hugely rewarding and Wanted to serve outmy term El added chat l was “reliable” in one way but nnt In the way i, polltlcal people sorqetimes use the (anvil l explained that he could taunt on me to , always tell him the truth lsaid i don't do sneaky things, i don't leak, i don‘t do it c/anrflm A», 1/1‘0 50’ l; Danna/vomr/EIMSIU-r ,
Nsc Declassilicaiinn Review (50 13526] DECLASSIFIED IN PART ‘ W aid/0L 2460301 _ 4/1912018 Aet/«Unélo/[fi Viol/way
