PresidentDonald Trump‘s younger daughter returned Tuesday toGeorgetown University, where she is finishing her law degree, inthe wake of a White House scandalabout what Trump really thinks about his kids, what he has been telling staffers and how indiscreet they are in discussing that with the press.
“Last first day of school,” she wrote in the caption, with a check mark and customary Georgetown hashtags.
That some of the commenters were critics of her father’s (with one posting “Ironic that Daddy is currently dismantling the Rule of Law in this country”) was a reminder that, until last week, Tiffany largely avoided the political spotlight most of the rest of her family has sought.
Politicoreported in Julythat she was “not expected to play any role in the [2020 re-election] campaign, apart from appearing at the occasional event.”
The abrupt departure ofMadeleine Westerhout, President Trump’s 28-year-old personal assistant, revealed there may be other dynamics at play.
Multiple news outlets reported that Westerhout waspushed out of her jobafter speaking indelicately aboutthe Trump childrenat an off-the-record dinner with the press in August.
Westerhout, according toPolitico, also told reporters that she felt she had a better relationship with Trump than either Tiffany orIvanka Trump, the president’s eldest daughter and a senior aide.
Westerhout had been drinking when “in an uncharacteristically unguarded moment, she opened up to the reporters,” a source toldPolitico.
From left: Madeleine Westerhout, President Donald Trump and Tiffany Trump.Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images; Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images; Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images
Madeleine Westerhout.TIMOTHY A. CLARY/Getty Images
After word reached the president of what she had said, he came to agree that Westerhout must resign, which she did Thursday, according to theTimes.
Speaking with reporters on Friday, Trump declined to describe it as a firing — “I think it was automatic” — and said that Westerhout “mentioned a couple of things about my children,” but he did not elaborate.
(The White House did not comment to PEOPLE on the record; Westerhout did not return a request for comment but declined to speak withPolitico.)
“I really think she had a bad night. I think it was unfortunate. She said she was drinking, and the whole thing was very unfortunate,” Trump told reporters.
“She’s a very good person,” he said of Westerhout, with whom he said he had just spoken.
“Still,” he said, “you don’t say things like she said, which were just a little bit hurtful to some people.”
Tiffany Trump, 26, on her “last first day of school” at Georgetown.Tiffany Trump/Instagram
Tiffany and her dad have a strained past, PEOPLE previously reported.
“Since the inauguration, Tiffany and her father have sometimes gone for months without speaking and she went a very long time without seeing him,” a source close to hertold PEOPLE in April 2018. “The last time she was at a family function with him, it was awkward for her and she didn’t feel totally welcome.”
On Saturday, without further explanation, Tiffany posted some motivational quotes to Instagram.
The lines read: “Study me as much as you like, you will never know me. For i differ a hundred ways from what you see me to be. put yourself behind my eyes, and see me as i see myself. Because i have chosen to dwell in a place you cant see.”
source: people.com
