Republican congressional aides charged with speaking for their bosses are hopeful that President Trump’s new communications director will help keep the Hill better informed about White House policy decisions, after a month of what many described as an almost total lack of coordination.
“There was really no outreach at the beginning,” said one House press secretary. “That has improved slightly.”
After catching Republican lawmakers off guard with a controversial weekend immigration order that has since been struck down by a panel of federal judges, the Trump administration is trying to give key lawmakers a heads up about executive orders now, the press secretary said. But the system isn’t yet as good as many hope.
“It’s improved but still a bit hit or miss,” the source said.
“They tell us things too late,” another House press secretary complained. “It would be so much easier to all be on the same page if they could give us a heads up when things [like executive orders] are coming. But they don’t. Then, when things do drop and we’re trying to all coordinate, they don’t have any kind of real messaging for us at all.”
Republicans hold all the levers of the legislative and executive branches for the first time since 2007. Traditionally, the White House hosts weekly calls with Capitol Hill communications directors of the same party to help shape ways to talk about policy decisions and speak with one voice, but the Trump administration has yet to follow suit.
“They’ll get there,” said John Feehery, who was former House Speaker Dennis Hastert’s communications director during President George W. Bush’s tenure.
“It took a while for the Bush team to get their calls going; I think it took several months, and even then it was kind of episodic; it wasn’t perfect,” he said. “I think they have plenty of time. Right now they have to focus on staffing and figure out their agenda, and what they want to say, and then they can figure out how to use the Hill.”
“They have time, I think. It’s on the to-do list but not panic” time yet, he said.
Feehery also noted that the communications director or deputy communications director, not the White House press secretary, usually runs the calls. Trump finally named Mike Dubke communications director last week. Press secretary Sean Spicer has been holding down the fort alone since Trump’s inauguration, leaving Hill staff outreach to special assistant Boris Epshteyn, who was the inaugural committee’s communications director.
Epshteyn has attended some of the weekly meetings of GOP spokesmen on Capitol Hill, but the aides say his presence has not been particularly helpful or productive.
When there is communication, “They say: ‘We need you guys on board.’ But we’re like, ‘how can we be on board if we don’t know what you want us to be on board with?'” one of the press secretaries said. “It’s a waste of our time for them to come and just shoot out nothing for us and say, ‘we’re here for you.’ And then not help us at all.”
Feehery said even well-organized calls are not always useful.
“These are two different institutions trying to coordinate on message but no matter how much they agree, they are going to have different institutional disagreements and frictions,” he said. “The purpose of a call is to make sure you ease those frictions as much as possible.”
“There was a regular call,” he said. “Sometimes they were useful and sometimes they weren’t. It wasn’t like they were asking us for input. It mostly was just telling us what to say. Sometimes we agreed, and sometimes we said what we wanted to say” anyway, Feehery recalled.
“They’re busy,” he said of Trump officials. “I think they are trying to figure out where everything is and how useful the Hill is going to be.”
Congressional aides were heartened when Trump added two veteran House staffers to his congressional liaison team, Joyce Meyer, a long-time top aide to House Speaker Paul Ryan, and Ben Howard, who was House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s floor director. But they are skeptical about how much difference it will make when it comes to helping them present a unified front and cohesive message to the public.
“There’s not zero communication,” said one key House press secretary. “There could be more.”
“So far [a regular call] has not happened,” the spokesman conceded. “I’m not surprised. Do I wish it would change? Yes.”
This press secretary partially blamed unprecedented leaks about the administration’s inner workings for the White House’s unwillingness to be more forthcoming with members and Hill aides.
“The number of leaks you see coming out is hampering how active they can be,” the press secretary said. “During the campaign you saw their talking points being leaked to the press … I think that really hurts everyone. If you can’t share information, you can’t be on the same page.”
“I’m confident they will finally get on the same page,” this aide added hopefully.
One House press secretary said the communication void is overblown. The White House regularly sends email updates and has organized calls that some Hill press aides were able to join, this aide said.
But another rank-and-file press secretary refuted the usefulness of the emails emanating from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
“We don’t need your pool reports,” the spokesman retorted, referring to the accounts of the president’s movements the White House press pool generates.
