Madeleine Westerhout denies ‘defamatory’ claims that Trump boasted about affair during 2018 shutdown following release of Epstein-linked emails

Former White House aide Madeleine Westerhout has forcefully rejected claims that President Donald Trump boasted to friends about having an affair with her, calling the allegations “absurd” and “unhinged from reality.”

The allegation stems from a 2019 email sent by author Michael Wolff to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The correspondence, part of a draft manuscript now released among 23,000 documents handed over to Congress by Epstein’s estate, suggested that Trump told friends he was “b*****g” Westerhout during the 2018 Christmas government shutdown, while he remained at the White House instead of joining his family at Mar-a-Lago.

Westerhout, who served as Trump’s personal secretary and later as Director of Oval Office Operations from 2017 to 2019, responded through her lawyer, stating: “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 email as part of the larger cache of Epstein-related documents. Democrats highlighted several exchanges between Epstein and Wolff that referenced Trump. Notably, the passage naming Westerhout was removed from Wolff’s 2019 book Siege before publication, with her identity excised.

In the draft shared with Epstein, Wolff described Trump’s choice to spend Christmas 2018 at the White House during the shutdown, while First Lady Melania Trump had already departed for Florida. According to the manuscript, Westerhout had delivered papers to the residence, and Trump allegedly told friends he was staying because he was spending time with her.

The White House dismissed the document release as politically motivated. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt labeled the reports as “bad-faith efforts to distract from President Trump’s historic accomplishments.”

Who Is Madeleine Westerhout?

Born on October 8, 1990, in Newport Beach, California, Westerhout earned a political science degree from the College of Charleston in 2013. Prior to her political career, she worked as a fitness trainer at a Pure Barre gym in Washington, DC.

Westerhout began her political journey on Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign and later held positions at the Republican National Committee starting in 2013, eventually serving as assistant to RNC Chief of Staff Katie Walsh.

She joined the Trump administration in 2017 as special assistant and executive assistant to the president, later being promoted in February 2019 to Director of Oval Office Operations with an annual salary of $145,000. During her tenure, Trump reportedly referred to her as “my beauty.”

The Dramatic Dismissal

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

Sources indicated that after “a couple of drinks,” the 28-year-old boasted of having a closer relationship with Trump than he did with his daughters, Ivanka and Tiffany. She also allegedly remarked that the president was so unfamiliar with Tiffany that he could not recognize her in a crowd.

Trump addressed her dismissal on Twitter, writing: “While Madeleine Westerhout has a fully enforceable confidentiality agreement, she is a very good person."