During the 2016 campaign, President Trump clearly differentiated himself on illegal immigration and trade. The president understood that the Republican Party had lost its way on these issues, and as a result lost its working-class base and the last two presidential elections. Globalization, with its importation of labor and exportation of jobs, wasn’t such a good deal for many American workers. In the last two decades, the United States had lost five million manufacturing jobs, and in hard-hit states across the Rust Belt from Pennsylvania to Michigan to Wisconsin the call to “make America great again” deeply resonated.
On trade, the president replaced NAFTA with the USMCA (United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement), which was endorsed by the business community and organized labor, a first for any trade deal. The USMCA, negotiated by the president, vice president, Lighthizer, Mnuchin, Kudlow, and Kushner, was approved with strong bipartisan majorities in Congress. Along with the president, each of these administration officials was instrumental in getting the deal done. It represented a historic victory for the Trump administration and a blueprint for future trade deals that could be both pro–American business and pro–American worker. The president also made progress on trade with China, signing a Phase One deal that included $200 billion in new purchases of US goods and services, as well as better protections for US companies against China stealing their intellectual property and technology. President Trump promised American workers he’d fight for them, and on trade, he delivered. On illegal immigration and border security, however, results varied.
To many Democrats illegal immigration wasn’t predominantly a national security issue, an economic issue, or even a humanitarian issue—it was a political issue. These Democrats wanted illegal immigrants to come to America through an open border and give them free healthcare, government benefits, and ultimately citizenship so they’d loyally vote Democrat—and cement a permanent majority for the Democratic Party. Democrats weren’t stupid. They knew walls worked and were hell-bent on denying the president his wall.
After the midterms, as our federal government approached another shutdown, the president met with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. As was typical of many meetings President Trump hosted in the Oval Office, the press were invited into the room to cover it. This infuriated the Democrats, who said it turned the negotiations into a circus, but the president believed it was important for the American people to see. It also gave reporters unprecedented access, despite absurd claims by liberals that the president was somehow a dangerous threat to freedom of the press. I stood just to the president’s left, wearing a hunter green dress almost identical to Pelosi’s, as he opened the meeting and quickly gave her the floor. She said any government shutdown would be a “Trump shutdown,” entirely the president’s fault, directly in front of the cameras. To the surprise of everyone in the room, the president vowed to take ownership of a government shutdown. Shortly after he made that declaration he asked the press to leave. I stayed behind for the closed-door meeting. It didn’t last long. The Democrats had what they wanted—the president on record, on camera, taking ownership of a shutdown. The Democrats believed they had the president up against a wall and weren’t going to give him the funding to build one. We were headed for a shutdown and there was nothing any of us could do to stop it.
On the first day of the shutdown, just a few days before Christmas, Scarlett and I were en route home from the grocery store when I got a call from the White House. On the other end of the line were the president, vice president, Ivanka, Jared, and Mick. They were all in the residence on speaker and the president asked me if he should stay in Washington over the Christmas break or if he should go to Mar-a-Lago. I told him unequivocally that he could not leave Washington to go to Florida during the government shutdown. Everyone else on the line had already given him the same advice, and he had agreed. We discussed a statement to release and after we hung up I sent it out letting the press know the president would remain in Washington and the first lady would return from Mar-a-Lago and join him for Christmas.
Stuck in the White House on Christmas Eve the president unleashed a tweetstorm for the ages, going after his critics on a number of fronts. My family and I were hiking on a trail near our home in North Arlington that led to a ridge overlooking the Potomac River. I spent a good part of our hike looking at my phone to see what would come next. I called the president as soon as we returned home to wish him a Merry Christmas and politely said, “Sir, it’s Christmas Eve. Maybe finish the day with one last tweet that gets everyone more in the Christmas spirit.” He laughed and told me to get back to baking Christmas cookies with my kids. I told him I would be happy to do that if my phone quit buzzing from alerts to his tweets!
After our secret trip to Iraq to visit the troops over Christmas, we returned to Washington, and had another meeting in the Situation Room with President Trump, leaders in Congress, and senior administration officials to try and hammer out an agreement to address the border crisis and end the shutdown. Speaker Pelosi interrupted Department of Homeland Security Secretary Nielsen’s presentation and snapped at the president: “Mr. President, you need to start dealing with facts.”
The president was not one to tolerate being spoken to in that manner, and fired back: “These are the facts. Why don’t you listen to the secretary’s presentation instead of rudely interrupting her? Okay?”
“I reject your facts and those who work for you on the border,” said Pelosi.
“These aren’t my facts,” Secretary Nielsen said. “These are the facts on the ground coming directly from those on the frontlines. You can attack me but don’t you dare attack the men and women who risk their lives every day protecting us!”
The president loved it and piled on. He turned to Pelosi and said, “You’re a good Catholic, right? Doesn’t the Vatican have a wall?” Senate Majority Leader McConnell tried to intervene, but it was clear the negotiation was going nowhere. Pelosi wanted to prolong the shutdown and deal nothing to the president other than a humiliating defeat.
The following day we were scheduled for a long-planned senior staff retreat and meetings at Camp David. Because it was a retreat we were allowed to bring spouses along so I invited Bryan. I had been to Camp David a few times but this would be my first overnight. Despite all of the craziness around the shutdown I was excited to be there with my husband.
Camp David, on a hilltop in rural Maryland a few hours’ drive from Washington, is one of the most heavily secured facilities in our country. When we arrived at the gate, we had to turn in our phones, as no guests are permitted to have them on the property. After making it through the formidable security perimeter, we were directed to the Hawthorne Cabin. Camp David was rustic but comfortable and peaceful. Each cabin at Camp David had a guest book with all the names of the people who had stayed there. In the Hawthorne Cabin guest book the names of Henry Kissinger and Dick Cheney, along with many Bush and Clinton family members, were inscribed. That evening we enjoyed a relaxing dinner with the Trump White House team, and afterward played pool and socialized around the bar, forgetting for a moment that we were in one of the longest government shutdowns in American history.
The following morning we had breakfast together in the main dining area before breaking off from our spouses for meetings. Bryan had talked to a couple of the other husbands about getting together to go skeet shooting, one of the organized activities offered at Camp David for guests. He called from our cabin phone to the main office to arrange for the group but was told, “I’m sorry, sir, but we don’t allow guests to shoot firearms into the air when the president is about to land on Marine One.”
When the president arrived for the meetings, he of course threw out the agenda and launched into a story about buying Mar-a-Lago—one of his “greatest all-time deals.” Originally built in the 1920s by Marjorie Merriweather Post, heir to the Post Cereal fortune, Mar-a-Lago was donated after her death in 1973 to the federal government to be “the Winter White House,” but never used for that purpose. It was returned to the Post Foundation by an Act of Congress, and ultimately purchased for pennies on the dollar in the 1980s by Donald Trump, who, upon winning the presidency returned Mar-a-Lago to the purpose Post had originally intended. It was now his Winter White House, and the president was still a bit agitated he wasn’t there this winter due to the shutdown. He said, “The great thing about Camp David is even the fake news knows I’m working when I’m here!”
One of the things we finalized over the weekend at Camp David was for the president to take a trip to the border to make his case for the wall. Prior to the president’s border visit we also planned for the president to deliver his first nationally televised Oval Office address to the country on the shutdown and border crisis. I worked with all of the major television networks to nail down a block of prime time for the president to give his address Tuesday night ahead of the border visit. That night I talked to Jared and Stephen Miller to finalize plans for Tuesday as I watched the College Football National Championship game between Alabama and Clemson. We decided a lunch meeting with the president and all of the major television networks as well as some of the smaller ones to preview his speech was a good idea.
The next morning I went to Stephen’s second-floor office and worked directly with him, Jared, and Derek Lyons on the address. We spent the next several hours going in and out of the back dining room of the Oval Office, consulting with the president and writing and rewriting. We must have gone back and forth a half-dozen times. The president wanted to open his first Oval Office address to the country with a list of his economic accomplishments. We recommended he keep his remarks focused on the crisis at the border and his solution to it. Still unresolved, we took a break for the media lunch. Because of the shutdown we had to do it in the Roosevelt Room instead of the State Dining Room, which also meant we had to limit the number of attendees from two to one from each network, and let them decide who to send.
Jared and my principal deputy Hogan Gidley had gone over to the media offices and briefed them ahead of the lunch, and while meeting with CNN, Wolf Blitzer and Jake Tapper (two regulars for the annual network State of the Union lunch) asked why CNN wasn’t invited. Jared said, “You were, Chris Cuomo is coming.” Blitzer and Tapper were furious that CNN had made the call to send Cuomo instead of either of them.
Later I was in the back dining room with the president, vice president, Mick, Jared, and Shine, and I handed the president the confirmed list of lunch attendees.
“Who the f—— are some of these people?” the president asked.
“It’s good to have everyone, including the regional networks which actually have more viewers than CNN,” I said.
At the mention of CNN the president noticed something interesting about the list.…
“Whoa! Cuomo is coming!?!?”
I told him that was CNN’s call, not ours, and Jared retold the story about how Tapper and Blitzer were upset they weren’t included in the lunch.
Without hesitation the president said, “Call Tapper … get him on the phone right now.… Madeleine! Get Jake Tapper on the phone!”
With a mischievous grin on his face, the president said, “Watch this.”
“Mr. Tapper,” said the White House operator, “the president would like to speak to you. Are you available to take the call? Thank you, I’ll put you through…”
“Jake! I was just handed the list for the media lunch,” said the president. “Why aren’t you coming? Cuomo!? I can’t believe it! Why didn’t they send you? Do you want to come? Sarah! Can we add Jake?”
“No, sir,” I said. “Just one per network.”
“So sorry, Jake,” the president said. “We’ll figure out a way to make it up to you,” and he hung up.
That night the president walked down the colonnade to deliver his first Oval Office address. He sat at the Resolute desk with pictures of his parents and the American and presidential flags behind him. Only the pool television network and a few senior staff were present in the room. I held my breath as the clock struck 9:00 p.m. and the president began his remarks to the country.
We had won the debate on the opening, and I still have the first page of that draft where we got to strike through it with the words VICTORY written in all red caps at the top of the page.
Tonight, I am speaking to you because there is a growing humanitarian and security crisis at our southern border.… America proudly welcomes millions of lawful immigrants who enrich our society and contribute to our nation. But, all Americans are hurt by uncontrolled illegal migration. It strains public resources and drives down jobs and wages. Among those hardest hit are African Americans and Hispanic Americans. Our southern border is a pipeline for vast quantities of illegal drugs, including meth, heroin, cocaine, and fentanyl. Every week three hundred of our citizens are killed by heroin alone, 90 percent of which floods across from our southern border. More Americans will die from drugs this year than were killed in the entire Vietnam War.…
Some have suggested a barrier is immoral. Then why do wealthy politicians build walls, fences, and gates around their homes? They don’t build walls because they hate the people on the outside, but because they love the people on the inside.… This is a choice between right and wrong, justice and injustice. This is about whether we fulfill our sacred duty to the American citizens we serve. When I took the oath of office, I swore to protect our country. And that is what I will always do, so help me God.
The next day I attended a meeting in the Cabinet Room with the president and congressional leadership. The president brought in some candy, and offered to share with Chuck and Nancy. The candy was from a place in New York that both Schumer and Trump knew well. They spent the first few minutes reminiscing about life in New York. There is a bit of friendliness between them, but it didn’t last long once the meeting got under way.
Nancy immediately asked, “Why are you hurting people with this shutdown?”
“I don’t want to hurt anybody,” said the president. “I want to protect our country and our people. We can open up the government today. You say you want border security. If we open the government today, in thirty days will you also fund border security, including the wall?”
“No,” Pelosi said.
The president calmly said, “Okay, then this is a waste of time. Bye-bye.”
The president walked out, and Pelosi lost it. I stayed behind in the room for a few minutes while the vice president tried to calm her down. It was no use. The meeting ended and the Democrats went out to the sticks in the driveway of the West Wing to trash the president in front of the cameras. Schumer lied and said the president threw a “temper tantrum” and “slammed the table” and the media ran with it. House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy went out right after and refuted the Democrats’ account of what happened. “I know [Schumer] complained when we had the cameras in there but I think we need to bring them back because what he described in the meeting is totally different than what took place.”
The next day I flew on Air Force One with the president to McAllen, Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley, one of the most heavily trafficked areas for illegal border crossings. At a US Border Patrol station, the president talked with the brave men and women protecting us along our southern border and with relatives of law enforcement officials killed in the line of duty by illegal immigrants in front of a cache of seized guns, drugs, and money.
CNN’s White House correspondent Jim Acosta went down ahead of President Trump to do some “investigative reporting” on the border, and posted a video of himself in front of a section of border wall: “I found some steel slats down on the border,” said Acosta. “But I don’t see anything resembling a national emergency situation, at least not in the McAllen, Texas, area of the border where Trump will be today.” I tweeted back to Acosta: “When I went with President @realDonaldTrump to the border today I never imagined @Acosta would be there doing our job for us and so clearly explaining why WALLS WORK. Thanks Jim!”
As the shutdown dragged on, and much of the federal bureaucracy ground to a halt, there were a few events the president insisted must go on. One such event was the Clemson Tigers National Champion football team’s visit to the White House. Frequently when a championship team came to the White House there was a reception or celebration of some kind, but because most of the White House staff who managed these events were furloughed due to the shutdown, the president had to improvise. He came up with the idea to order a bunch of fast food for the players and pay for it himself. The president personally selected the menu, and said to make sure there’s enough to feed all the big kids. The amazing team at the Navy Mess worked on the order and the presentation, and made it special by displaying it on White House silver in the dining room. Before the Clemson players arrived, the president came down to inspect it himself. On the tables stacked high were more than $5,000 worth of McDonald’s Big Macs, Wendy’s spicy chicken sandwiches, Burger King Whoppers, and Domino’s pizzas. As the president proudly gazed at the spread he told Nick Luna to carry some of the food upstairs for him and Barron, and then added with a smile, “And be sure to take a few of those Big Macs up there, too, for Melania!” We all knew none of them were for the first lady! Jared, always quick with a good one-liner, said, “He is the only person I know who will buy a thousand burgers so he can have one.”
Speaker Pelosi didn’t seem too impressed with the president’s theatrics, and canceled President Trump’s State of the Union address at the Capitol the next day. Pelosi and several Democratic members of Congress had an overseas trip planned in which they would be traveling by government plane—approved and managed through the State Department. In response to her State of the Union cancelation, President Trump personally dictated to us a letter he wanted sent to Pelosi, which read:
Dear Madame Speaker:
Due to the shutdown, I am sorry to inform you that your trip to Brussels, Egypt, and Afghanistan has been postponed. We will reschedule this seven-day excursion when the shutdown is over. In light of the 800,000 great American workers not receiving pay, I am sure you would agree that postponing this public relations event is totally appropriate. I also feel that, during this period, it would be better if you were in Washington negotiating with me and joining the strong border security movement to end the shutdown. Obviously, if you would like to make your journey by flying commercial, that would certainly be your prerogative. I look forward to seeing you soon and even more forward to watching our open and dangerous southern border finally receive the attention, funding, and security it so desperately deserves.
Pelosi and the rest of her delegation had already boarded buses and were en route to the airport when they received the letter, courtesy of my Twitter account. The Democrats’ bus returned to the Capitol and House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy texted me a picture of Pelosi’s luggage cart being wheeled back down the Capitol hallway.
A few days later on a Saturday morning President Trump hosted a naturalization ceremony for five new American citizens. I brought Scarlett along to watch an event that usually takes place in US Citizenship and Immigration Service offices around the country, but this time would be done in the Oval Office. I held Scarlett’s hand throughout the ceremony as Secretary Nielsen administered the oath, Vice President Pence handed our new fellow citizens their certificates, and the President of the United States said, “By taking this oath, you have forged a sacred bond with this nation, its traditions, its culture, and its values. This heritage is now yours to protect, promote, and pass down to the next generation and to the next wave of newcomers to our shores.” I explained to Scarlett how special it is to be an American. Men and women had fought and died and given everything for our country, and to be an American citizen is a blessing from God. Millions of people all over the world would do just about anything to be an American, a privilege many of us all too often take for granted.
Shortly after the ceremony the president delivered a speech from the White House laying out a compromise with Democrats—temporary protection to young people who had come to the country illegally with their parents—one of the Democrats’ top immigration priorities—in exchange for funding to secure the border and reopen the government. It was a major concession from the president. Democrats were getting nearly everything they’d asked for, but as usual they put their politics ahead of the country and rejected the deal because it meant funding the president’s wall.
On Sunday afternoon the president called me at home, frustrated by the Democrats’ unwillingness to compromise. He was also angry about a former staffer who had betrayed him after leaving the White House. He asked me, “Sarah, would you ever do that?” Before I could respond he answered for me. “I know my Sarah, you would never do that. How do I know? Because you’re a Christian and you wouldn’t get into heaven if you did.” He laughed, and said, “That’s why I’ve always liked religious people!” We talked a bit more and he asked me if I thought the Democrats would ever come around. I said, “No, sir. I doubt it.” He agreed and hung up.
It was clear the president was getting nowhere with Congress. The only way he’d be able to build the wall was to declare a national emergency and do it himself. The president was set to give a speech in the Rose Garden and as he was reviewing the final draft of his remarks he said, “I want to say I’m going to declare a national emergency, but White House counsel tells me I need to say I’ll ‘use authority given to me under the law and Constitution.’ I like national emergency better. It’s stronger. This is weak. I hate it. But I’m in a good mood so I’ll listen to the attorneys this time.”
President Trump announced from the Rose Garden he’d support a three-week continuing resolution to reopen government and back pay federal workers to give Congress time to negotiate a bipartisan solution. Following the president’s remarks I said, “In twenty-one days President Trump is moving forward building the wall with or without the Democrats. The only outstanding question is whether the Democrats want something or nothing.”
With the three-week continuing resolution the president’s State of the Union speech was back on, and I spent the day in the Map Room with the president, Miller, Scavino, Derek, Jared, and Ivanka going through it. We worked for more than three and a half hours on the first few pages before the president had to step out for a dinner with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Mnuchin. As he was getting ready to head upstairs he asked, “You think we are good here then?” Miller said, “Sir, there’s a dozen or more pages to go.” He told us he would be back in an hour and we could work some more. He came back from dinner in a good mood and we set back to work. Around 8:30 p.m. I grabbed my coat and tried to quietly step out of the room. As I did, the president stopped practicing his speech and asked, “Are you tired? Bored? Heading home for some beauty rest?”
“No, sir, I am on Hannity tonight.”
“Great!” He immediately started giving me suggestions on what I should say.
The day of the State of the Union most of us went over to the Capitol with the first lady so we could more easily get through security into the House Chamber. I had been so focused on all the details of the day that I missed the memo that the female Democratic members of Congress planned to wear all white in solidarity to protest President Trump. It was a bit awkward when I showed up in a white dress myself!
After the State of the Union, I went with the president to a rally in El Paso, Texas. The atmosphere was electric. I watched President Trump as he walked out onto the stage framed by FINISH THE WALL banners, and the crowd went wild. House and Senate negotiators had just announced a compromise deal to keep government open and fund some border security but the president was noncommittal at the rally: “Just so you know—we’re building the wall anyway.… Walls work. Walls save lives.”
Finally there was momentum to end the shutdown. Prior to the Senate vote to fund the government, Majority Leader McConnell called the president. Pat Cipollone, Shahira Knight, Mick, Scavino, Kirstjen, and I were in the room when the president answered. He told McConnell: “I don’t know, Mitch, some of my people are telling me this legislation ties my hands. If I can’t do a national emergency and build the wall, I can’t sign this legislation.”
“Sure you can,” Mitch said. “My lawyers say you can.”
The president sensed an opening to lock in the majority leader. “So you’ll support the national emergency?”
“If you sign the legislation, yes,” Mitch said.
“Great, we have a deal!”
“I’m going to the floor to announce your support now,” Mitch said. “Do I have your permission to do so?”
“Yes, get out there, Mitch.”
McConnell all but ran to the floor—probably concerned the president might change his mind—and announced President Trump would sign legislation to keep the government open and declare a national emergency, and that he’d support it.
As McConnell addressed the Senate, my phone buzzed with questions from reporters looking for the White House to confirm the senator’s statement. I told the president we needed to back him up. The president agreed and I issued a statement that read, “President Trump will sign the government funding bill, and as he has stated before, he will also take other executive action—including a national emergency—to ensure we stop the national security and humanitarian crisis at the border. The president is once again delivering on his promise to build the wall, protect the border, and secure our great country.”
As I walked back to my office from the president’s dining room there were twenty to thirty reporters lined up in the hall outside my door, and as soon as they saw me they started shouting questions and looking for more details. “How did it all come together?” “Are you ready for a legal challenge?” I said, “We’re very prepared, but there shouldn’t be. The president’s doing his job.” I stepped into my office and closed the door, relieved the shutdown was over and the president wasn’t backing down from his promise to build the wall.
The next morning Bryan and I went to Scarlett’s Presidents’ Day performance at Jamestown Elementary School, where the first- graders sang songs about the early presidents. After I got a few pictures with Scarlett and gave her a big hug, I rushed to the White House just before the president walked out to the Rose Garden to address the country and declare a national emergency at the border and reallocate funds to build the wall.
It was a defining moment for his presidency. If there was one promise the president couldn’t break, it was his promise to build the wall. For decades Republican and Democratic politicians had said they’d secure the border but had never done it. The problem only got worse, as millions of illegal immigrants and billions of dollars in illegal drugs poured across our southern border. President Trump’s supporters believed he was different from other politicians, and would actually do what he said he’d do. By enduring the longest government shutdown in American history over border security—and when all else failed—declaring a national emergency to build the wall, the president clearly demonstrated he’d do whatever it takes.
It often wasn’t pretty, and I’m not going to pretend like the president was always politically correct. He wasn’t. But that’s one of the reasons the American people loved him. He wasn’t a scripted robot. He’d tell it like it is, often using colorful and inflammatory language. On occasion his rhetoric went too far. But let’s be clear: there’s nothing wrong about standing up for the American people. My dad used to say, “Thank God we live in a country people are trying to break into rather than break out of.” We are blessed to live in the greatest country in the world, and our people are generous and compassionate. We welcome immigrants who want to come here the right way and contribute to our society, but we are also a nation of laws, and must first and foremost protect American lives and livelihoods.