Trump will reportedly only have a handful of people help him with debate prep
President Trump and some of his closest aides and advisers decided that when it comes to debate prep, he will only have five or six people in the room with him to limit the potential for leaks, someone with knowledge of the matter leaked to Axios.
Trump, his son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, campaign manager Bill Stepien, senior adviser Jason Miller, and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie met at Trump's golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, two weekends ago to plot out how they will prepare for debates with former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Axios reports. The group agreed that they would gather every 10 days until the first scheduled debate, and they might welcome different people based on their subject matter expertise.
Christie pretended to be Hillary Clinton during 2016 debate prep sessions, and Trump has told people privately it is likely he'll step in and role-play as Biden this time around, Axios reports. Miller and Christie have both told Trump not to go into the first debate thinking he'll trounce Biden, as he has experience with debating, and one person told Axios Trump has "verbalized how important these are going to be. He's said, 'We gotta win.'"
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Has Zohran Mamdani shown the Democrats how to win again?Today’s Big Question New York City mayoral election touted as victory for left-wing populists but moderate centrist wins elsewhere present more complex path for Democratic Party
-
Senate votes to kill Trump’s Brazil tariffSpeed Read Five Senate Republicans joined the Democrats in rebuking Trump’s import tax
-
Border Patrol gets scrutiny in court, gains power in ICESpeed Read Half of the new ICE directors are reportedly from DHS’s more aggressive Customs and Border Protection branch
-
Shutdown stalemate nears key pain pointsSpeed Read A federal employee union called for the Democrats to to stand down four weeks into the government standoff
-
Trump vows new tariffs on Canada over Reagan adspeed read The ad that offended the president has Ronald Reagan explaining why import taxes hurt the economy
-
NY attorney general asks public for ICE raid footageSpeed Read Rep. Dan Goldman claims ICE wrongly detained four US citizens in the Canal Street raid and held them for a whole day without charges
-
Trump’s huge ballroom to replace razed East WingSpeed Read The White House’s east wing is being torn down amid ballroom construction
-
Trump expands boat strikes to Pacific, killing 5 moreSpeed Read The US military destroyed two more alleged drug smuggling boats in international waters



