‘We owe these people’: Trump loyalists find soft landings after getting ousted

Source: Politico | August 19, 2018 | Nancy Cook and Andrew Restuccia

A motley crew of diehard Trump allies have found their way to a constellation of pro-Trump entities and outside political groups.

When Carl Higbie’s degrading comments about African-Americans, women, gays and Muslims surfaced in January, he resigned from his job in the Trump administration. Yet just two months later, the former Navy SEAL landed at the pro-Trump group America First Policies, earning roughly the same amount as his White House salary, he says.

Higbie, who worked on advocacy issues and tax events for America First, said he never intended to stay at the group forever. But he acknowledges it gave him a soft landing among sympathetic peers at a low point in his career.

“Trumpworld is still very small, and people within Trumpworld generally try to stay within it. Because of my profile, I could never go to a company like Deloitte or McKinsey,” Higbie told POLITICO. “When you are publicly supporting Trump you close a significant number of doors, given how adamantly some people hate the president. Once you’re on Trump’s bandwagon, 80 percent of companies do not want political baggage when they hire you,” he added.

Higbie is just one of the motley crew of die-hard Trump loyalists, ranging from Trump’s ex-bodyguard to visible surrogates such as Katrina Pierson and Corey Lewandowski, who have found their way to a constellation of pro-Trump entities and outside political groups including the Republican National Committee, the Trump campaign, America First, or the Great America PAC.

The practice of shuttling Trump allies over to these groups is getting new attention after former White House adviser Omarosa Manigault Newman revealed that Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law, had offered her a $15,000-a-month contract as “hush money” to work for the campaign after she got fired, provided she sign a nondisclosure agreement.

Several Trump allies and administration officials privately said they view these outside jobs — like it or not — as a way to keep potentially problematic people on the payroll or to reward people for their extreme fealty.

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Donors are starting to notice. Some have expressed concerns about hard-fought fundraising dollars bankrolling Trump’s crew. The wall-to-wall coverage of the Trump campaign’s $15,000-a-month offer to Manigault Newman has revived long-simmering concerns about how donor money is being spent.

“I have talked to several donors who share my concern about these entities being used as dumping grounds for former allies and staffers to muzzle them,” said Dan Eberhart, an energy company executive and Republican donor. “I don’t think it’s a good practice. Ultimately, donors are giving money to wage a successful campaign not to fund people’s golden parachutes out of the White House.”

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Whether an ex-staffer gets an offer at the RNC, the reelection campaign or a group like America First is determined on a case-by-case basis, one of the officials said. One person familiar with the matter said a number of factors can come into play, including whether the president has a close relationship with the staffer and wants to help the person out, and whether there’s a desire to “keep them close and tie their hands a bit.”

When Trump’s former body man, John McEntee, was abruptly fired from the White House in March, the president made it clear to many people in his orbit that McEntee — who is beloved by the whole Trump family including first lady Melania Trump and the president’s children — needed to land well. About 24 hours later, the Trump campaign hired him.

The campaign did not respond to a question about the exact nature of McEntee’s day-to-day job. McEntee, who was reportedly fired because of a high-dollar gambling habit, did not respond to a request for comment.

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Meanwhile, the RNC has paid Keith Schiller, Trump’s former bodyguard who left the White House in September, $15,000 a month for security consulting.

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