Meet Christopher Ruddy, CEO of Newsmax Media as well as a very good friend of Donald Trump’s. So good, in fact, that Ruddy had drinks with the president after his dinner with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Saturday night:
After @POTUS finished dinner w. PM Abe, asked me to join him for drink, him diet Coke, me Macallan's. Talked for half hour.
— Christopher Ruddy (@ChrisRuddyNMX) February 11, 2017
And after drinks at Mar-a-Lago, Ruddy appeared on CNN and kneecapped Reince Priebus:
Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy tells @brianstelter: Trump's not the problem, Reince Priebus is. https://t.co/fQf4jfLSRN https://t.co/lm0dogxnYk
— CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) February 12, 2017
Some highlights:
“I think Reince Priebus, good guy, well-intentioned, but he clearly doesn’t know how the federal agencies work. He doesn’t have a really good system. He doesn’t know how the communications flow.”
And:
“The president is not getting the backup he needs in the operation of the White House.”
Ruddy also gave an interview to the Washington Post, telling the newspaper the president “realizes that he’s got to make some changes going forward” and that Priebus is “in way over his head”:
“A lot of people have been saying, ‘Look, Donald has some problems,’ and I think he realizes that he’s got to make some changes going forward,” Ruddy said in an interview with The Washington Post.
Ruddy went on to detail his critique of White House chief of staff Reince Priebus: “It’s my view that Reince is the problem. I think on paper Reince looked good as the chief of staff — and Donald trusted him — but it’s pretty clear the guy is in way over his head. He’s not knowledgeable of how federal agencies work, how the communications operations work. He botched this whole immigration rollout. This should’ve been a win for Donald, not two or three weeks of negative publicity.”
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Ruddy added after his CNN appearance that three “sitting Cabinet members” praised his appearance:
Ruddy: "Since the [CNN] show, I've gotten three text messages from sitting Cabinet members praising my appearance" https://t.co/NKAIFjxSQ7
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) February 12, 2017
Game over for Reince?
For @ChrisRuddyNMX to publicly blame @Reince (see previous tweet) seems fairly significant given friendship w POTUS https://t.co/z3xEs6ZSbt
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 12, 2017
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