James O’Keefe is back with another undercover sting, and this time the cameras were rolling inside the President’s own orbit.

O’Keefe Media Group released hidden-camera video on Tuesday identifying two individuals it described as White House insiders: Maxim Lott, identified as a Special Assistant to President Donald Trump on the White House Domestic Policy Council, and Benjamin Ellisten, identified as a budget analyst manager within the Executive Office of the President. The footage shows both men making candid remarks about how policy gets made and, in Ellisten’s case, expressing sharply anti-Trump sentiments, including a line about needing to “get rid of Trump.”

O’Keefe posted the primary video to X on Tuesday afternoon.

The video quickly drew attention because these are not random federal employees buried in some distant agency. The Domestic Policy Council and the Executive Office of the President sit at the center of how presidential priorities become real policy. If the identifications are accurate, these individuals occupy roles designed to serve the President directly.

Gateway Pundit published a detailed report on the video and the fallout:

Gateway Pundit reported that O’Keefe Media Group released undercover video on Tuesday featuring two people it described as White House insiders. The article identified Maxim Lott as a Special Assistant to President Trump on the White House Domestic Policy Council and said Lott told the undercover journalist that policy decisions can originate below President Trump’s level, with staffers interpreting what they think he would say. The same report said Lott acknowledged that some proposals move forward because officials believe the base supports them, without the kind of formal cost-benefit analysis voters would expect for consequential domestic policy decisions.

Gateway Pundit also reported that Benjamin Ellisten was identified as a budget analyst manager within the Executive Office of the President and that the video showed him making sharply anti-Trump comments, including the “get rid of Trump” line. The article added that OMG sought comment from both men, said Ellisten denied knowing what the call was about before hanging up, and published Lott’s statement saying he believed he was meeting a genuine person and that nothing he said contradicted the administration or his commitment to carrying out its agenda.

Lott’s response is worth reading carefully. He told O’Keefe Media Group that he thought he was out with a genuine person, acknowledged that “politics and Washington can be insidious,” and insisted that nothing he said contradicted the administration’s agenda. Whether that explanation satisfies the White House remains to be seen.

Ellisten did not offer the same courtesy. O’Keefe posted a follow-up clip showing OMG’s phone call with Ellisten, in which the group asked him directly what he meant by saying “We have to get rid of Trump.” According to Gateway Pundit, Ellisten denied knowing what the call was about and hung up.

To understand why this matters, start with how the White House describes the Executive Office of the President:

The White House explains that the Executive Office of the President exists to give the President the support he needs to govern effectively. The EOP includes the President’s immediate staff, along with entities such as the Office of Management and Budget. The official White House description says the EOP handles work ranging from communicating the President’s message to the American people to promoting U.S. trade interests abroad, and that the office is overseen by the White House Chief of Staff.

That institutional setup is the reason the O’Keefe video lands so hard. These are not outside commentators or random federal employees in a distant agency. If the roles are accurately identified, the people in this story sit in or near the machinery built to help President Trump execute his agenda. Loyalty to the elected President’s direction is not a side issue in that environment. It is the central expectation of the job.

The White House gives this description of the Domestic Policy Council:

The White House says the Domestic Policy Council supervises the development, coordination, and execution of domestic policy inside the White House. The same official description says the DPC offers advice to the President and represents his priorities to Congress. That is why the Lott portion of the undercover video matters. According to the O’Keefe release, Lott described a policy process where staffers may decide what they believe President Trump would say and where proposals can move because they feel politically supported.

If a person inside or around the DPC is describing policy work that way, it raises a serious question about whether the President’s own domestic policy machinery is faithfully carrying out the mandate voters gave him. A staffer interpreting the President’s preferences is very different from the President directly setting the course and staff executing it with discipline.

The White House describes OMB’s role from the budget side:

The White House says the Office of Management and Budget serves the President by overseeing implementation of his vision across the executive branch. OMB also assists the President in meeting policy, budget, management, and regulatory objectives while fulfilling statutory responsibilities. That matters for the Ellisten portion of the story because budget and funding roles sit close to the machinery that turns presidential policy into agency action and spending priorities.

If O’Keefe’s identification and video context are accurate, the comments attributed to Ellisten are not merely a staffer venting in private. They speak to the larger question President Trump’s supporters have raised for years: whether every layer of the executive apparatus is aligned with his agenda, or whether some people inside the system are quietly working against the man voters put in charge.

President Trump ran on draining the swamp and rooting out internal resistance. His supporters have warned for years that the hardest fights can come from people sitting close to power, including people whose job is to help execute the agenda. If O’Keefe’s video is what it appears to be, it validates exactly that concern.

No official White House response to the video has been reported as of Tuesday afternoon. Whether personnel action follows remains an open question, but the footage is now public, the names are on the record, and the American people can watch it for themselves.

This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.
 

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