The key to governing in times of an investigation involving the president and those around him is to compartmentalize operations. The president and the White House staff must deal with an investigation with the least amount of disruption or distraction to their governing agenda.
The chief of staff must divorce the officials unaffected by investigations by keeping policy goals moving along. He cannot allow an investigation to consume the president’s time and attention. He must balance the schedule with what needs attention both in governing and investigations. While the chief of staff is dealing with personnel, the White House counsel is dealing with the nuts and bolts of the investigation.
The communications shop must walk a fine line to make sure it is neither sidetracked nor bogged down in attention the White House gives to investigations to the detriment of the president’s agenda. Typically, the communications shop also compartmentalizes its office to put a lead person on the investigation to ensure the entire office is not overtaken in focus. It is also important for the communications team to refer as many inquiries about the investigation to others outside the White House.
The White House cannot become paralyzed by forces it cannot control, so it must stay on message and agenda to be successful. Now more than ever the White House must be disciplined in scheduling and direction. The staff must stick to a governing agenda that is unaffected by the news or events of investigations.
When I was in the White House during the Valerie Plame investigation, the challenges were the same as with the current special counsel investigation. We could not allow an investigation to hijack the president’s agenda. The chief of staff and counsel established a protocol and it was followed to a tee. There was a parallel track of governing and dealing with demands of the investigation. If you did not read the newspapers or watch the networks you would never know an investigation was underway if you worked in the White House.
The “coin of the realm” for a president is his time. He only has a certain amount of time to govern and his tenure is finite. That is the reason why it is vital for the White House to be focused and not consumed by investigation. Now is the time for the president and his staff to focus on the agenda and prioritize the North Korea meeting, Iran nuclear deal, U.S. Embassy opening, trade negotiations, and the economy.
His schedule must drive the news and that requires events at the White House and on the road. The best way for the president to drive the news is to travel outside the Beltway. He will have this opportunity when he goes to the Korean Peninsula and Israel. He also should plan travel around the country to push his America first agenda.
The president remaining too long in one place especially at the White House becomes a “sitting duck” for press investigation overload. Travel is the best medicine to drive a message on your own terms and timetable. I would strongly urge the president to hit the road aggressively this summer and stay away from Washington. He should take his message on the road to the people and force the press to cover his agenda rather than the drip, drip, drip of the investigation.
It is also more likely than not that the president, his attorneys and senior advisers will likely have a “heads up” on investigation news. They must be ready to react and minimize any damage by taking charge of the news cycle to thwart investigation coverage. The truth is that while the Beltway is consumed by this investigation, America is not. The bully pulpit, agenda, and compartmentalization of staff are key to effectively weathering any investigation storm in Washington.
