Reince Priebus Opens Up about Six Months in White House

The former chief of staff spoke to Vanity Fair.

Reince Priebus
White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus arrives for an event. (SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)
AFP/Getty Images

Months after he resigned as chief of staff, Reince Priebus sat down with Vanity Fair to discuss his whirlwind six months in the Trump White House. Unlike Sean Spicer, who struggled to find employment after he left the White House, Priebus has landed back at his old law firm, Michael Best & Friedrich LLP—as president. He also got paid engagements as a lecturer. And he said in touch with Trump, saying, “I still love the guy.” He admits that Spicer’s line about the size of Trump’s inauguration— how it was the biggest one yet — was a lie, but that instead of going against the president, he had went along with it. Other former chiefs of staff who met Priebus told Vanity Fair that Priebus seemed to see himself as Trump’s babysitter, and didn’t have a very good grasp on how to govern. When he got fired, he said he knew his job was hanging by a thread, but had hoped to exit gracefully. Instead, he was stunned to read a tweet from Trump announcing John Kelly as his new chief of staff.

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