Madeleine Westerhout Blasts 'Defamatory' Rumour Trump Said He Was 'Banging' Her During 2018 Shutdown

A former White House aide has vigorously denied claims that Donald Trump boasted to friends about having an affair with her, describing the allegations as 'absurd' and 'unhinged from reality'. The accusation emerged from a 2019 email sent by author Michael Wolff to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as part of a draft manuscript, now released amongst 23,000 documents handed to Congress by Epstein's estate.

Madeleine Westerhout, who served as Trump's personal secretary and later Director of Oval Office Operations from 2017 to 2019, was named in Wolff's unpublished book draft, which claimed Trump told friends he was 'banging' the then-28-year-old assistant during the 2018 Christmas shutdown when he remained at the White House rather than joining his family at Mar-a-Lago.

Through her lawyer, Westerhout said: 'These are absurd and defamatory accusations from a discredited writer who has been known to peddle falsehoods. The lies in this email are unhinged from reality and simply not true'.

The Email That Sparked Controversy

The House Oversight Committee released the correspondence as part of 23,000 documents from Epstein's estate, with Democrats highlighting several emails between Epstein and Wolff that referenced Trump. The specific passage naming Westerhout was edited out of Wolff's 2019 book Siege when it was published, with the assistant's identity removed.

In the draft shared with Epstein, Wolff wrote about Trump's decision to spend the 2018 Christmas holiday at the White House during the government shutdown, whilst First Lady Melania Trump had already departed for Florida. The manuscript claimed Trump's personal secretary brought papers to the residence and that the president told friends he was staying because he was 'banging' her.

The White House has dismissed the document release as a politically motivated distraction. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt described the stories as 'bad-faith efforts to distract from President Trump's historic accomplishments'.

Who Is Madeleine Westerhout?

Born on 8 October 1990 in Newport Beach, California, Westerhout studied political science at the College of Charleston, graduating in 2013. Before entering politics, she worked as a fitness trainer at a Pure Barre gym in Washington DC.

Her political career began with work on Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign, followed by positions at the Republican National Committee from 2013, where she eventually served as assistant to RNC chief of staff Katie Walsh.

Westerhout joined Trump's administration on 19 January 2017 as special assistant and executive assistant to the president. She was promoted to Director of Oval Office Operations in February 2019 at an annual salary of $145,000. Trump often referred to her as 'my beauty'.

The Dramatic Dismissal

Westerhout's White House tenure ended abruptly in August 2019 after she shared personal information about the Trump family and Oval Office operations with reporters at an off-the-record dinner near Trump's Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club.

After 'a couple of drinks', the 28-year-old allegedly boasted that she had a closer relationship to Trump than the president had with his daughters, Ivanka and Tiffany. She also quipped that the president was so unfamiliar with Tiffany that he couldn't pick her out in a crowd.

Trump addressed the dismissal on Twitter, writing: 'While Madeleine Westerhout has a fully enforceable confidentiality agreement, she is a very good person and I don't think there would ever be reason to use it. She called me yesterday to apologise, had a bad night. I fully understood and forgave her!'