Presidential Advisors Quotes

Vice President Cheney really knew how to bring out the cowboy in George W, Bush.

It's certainly true that presidents have confidantes who rise above what you would call just staff.

A committee of the Senate ought to confer with a committee of the President through a head of a department and not with the Chief Magistrate, for in the latter case a committee of that House is equal to the President.

When I first went to work in the West Wing, the most daunting thing was how small this place was... You walk in: it's three floors, and there's a few offices on each floor, and that's it.

Unless a president can protect the privacy of the advice he gets, he cannot get the advice he needs.

I honestly think that Donald Trump's only adviser is his doorman.

For the President to perform his constitutional duties, it is imperative that he receive candid and unfettered advice and that free and open discussions and deliberations occur among his advisors and between those advisors and others within and outside the Executive Branch.

The Bush Cabinet is quite interesting, there are no flashy people in there. No stars. They all seem quite focused and serious and knowledgeable about the areas to which they have been appointed.

My role in the White House was grossly exaggerated by the press. Fortunately for the American people, when the president had to make a critical economic decision or a decision on a weapons system, he did not turn to me and say, 'Hamilton, what in the hell do I do?'

The secretary of defense makes recommendations, sometimes will make strong recommendations to the president of the United States. But the president, whoever it is at that time, decides, makes the call on whether or not to take that recommendation.

A number of Donald Trump's supporters told me during the campaign they had faith that he would be a good president because he would be helped by the experts around him. But the president's improvisation saps experts of their key skill: pattern recognition.

If you're a speech writer for a president, you don't really see all that much of him because there's so many layers between you and him. But with a vice president, it's different.

I have worked with Presidents since Eisenhower. We serve together.

The man with the best job in the country is the vice-president. All he has to do is get up every morning and say, 'How is the president?'

My job is to provide the president with the richest possible consideration, so that he knows what is at stake in whatever decision he makes.

I believe executive privilege should protect the President's conversations with key aides ... but on substantive matters of concern I do not believe executive privilege ought to exist.

As it is so often the case in Washington, key players protect their turf. Strong national security advisors have jealously guarded their role as the President’s chief strategist. Weak ones have failed to compel cooperation from the other agencies determined to go it alone.

The president's personal staff has a unique role.

Those who were closest to Yeltsin behaved as if they were running the government.

There was no one at the table [of a Cabinet meeting] who could be of help to me except the President, and when I needed to consult him I did not choose a Cabinet meeting to do so.

You do not walk into any hearing or committee meeting and reveal confidential communications with the president of the United States, who's entitled to receive confidential communications in your best judgment about a host of issues.

One of the worries about a presidency is that everybody tells you yes. Nobody helps you figure out where your blind spots are.

I don't get into conversations or information about anything that the president does with his personal attorney.

So in his very politically-incorrect way, I think [James Mattis] is a good counterpart to Donald Trump, who doesn't read books.

The presidency is not a collegial body... He will surround himself with people who share his vision.