Tensions simmer over Howard Lutnick, Trump’s favorite dealmaker

Politico: …some Cabinet secretaries and senior officials in the administration are increasingly wary of what they describe as his brash and controlling style – and whether he can deliver on the $18 trillion in pledged investments Trump claims he’s promised, according to 15 people interviewed for this article, granted anonymity to discuss sensitive conversations.

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“No one’s allowed to talk to the interagency without Howard giving explicit approval,” an administration official said. “Even when his staff show up to meetings at the White House, they’re under a gag order, and they literally just say, ‘Hi, I don’t have a position from the Secretary on this, so Commerce has no position at this time.’”

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The president has been upset that Lutnick’s family is profiting so aggressively off of his popularity and he confronted Lutnick directly about it during an episode at Mar-a-Lago over the winter holiday, said two people familiar with the exchange, one of whom witnessed it…