Senior Republican strategists who gathered Monday at the Waldorf Astoria hotel to discuss the GOP’s increasingly precarious midterm outlook were asked to sign nondisclosure agreements, prioritizing secrecy at a moment when swaths of the party are looking for cues from the operatives who control the president’s political apparatus and a war chest worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
“Because we’re running an operation, not a social club,” James Blair, on leave from his role as White House deputy chief of staff to run President Donald Trump’s political operation, said in response to an inquiry about the unusual step.
Trump’s flagship super PAC, MAGA Inc., reported raising $35.6 million in March, bringing its total cash on hand to $347.8 million, according to a federal campaign finance disclosure filed Monday. But Trump’s team has not publicly revealed how much it intends to spend on House and Senate races this year, or how much it plans to save for other uses. Officials at MAGA Inc. have said they won’t telegraph their strategy through media reports.
The meeting unfolded as Trump’s popularity has dropped to near historic lows, driven in part by the war in Iran and its impact on gas prices for Americans who hoped the president would make their lives easier. GOP strategists have privately acknowledged that Trump’s unpopularity makes districts he won easily in 2024 look competitive this year — many of them seats that are open or held by incumbents not used to mounting contentious campaigns.
Trump has characterized the midterms as existential to his presidency, aware that a Democratic majority would stymie policy initiatives and probably mount two years of impeachment efforts.
The briefing at the Waldorf Astoria, familiar to alumni of Trump’s first term as the Trump International Hotel, featured Blair, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and companies that provide services, such as polling and advertising, to the PAC. The close hold on their plans for spending the president’s fundraising haul has frustratedsome GOP operatives looking for clues on where they can count on financial support.
“You mean the meeting where we are finally going to map out our plan to help working families with affordability at the Waldorf Astoria?” said one GOP operative, in response to an inquiry about whether they attended the meeting. “No, I was not on the invite list.”
Past presentations by Blair and other Trump advisers, such as a session with the National Republican Senatorial Committee in February, did not require NDAs.
It is more common for political organizations to require NDAs for staff than for vendors.
Trump’s 2016 campaign used NDAs for staff, but a judge invalidated the gag agreements in 2023, calling them overly broad.
The post GOP strategists required to sign NDAs at meeting on midterm plans appeared first on Washington Post.
