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“I have lost friends by being here; I have not lost my soul.”
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Chris Liddell accepted that the president’s legal challenges could soon end up failing in an exclusive White House interview with Q + A’s Jack Tame. Source: 1 NEWS
In 2018, some of the most important advisers to the president of the United States, Donald Trump, were called to the Situation Room of the White House.
As an NBC report from an anonymous source puts it, they were called in to discuss a policy to separate migrant children from their parents under a zero tolerance approach to deter illegal immigration across the southern border of the United States.
The source said the advisers were then asked, by a show of hands, to decide what would happen to the migrant parents and children.
Among the meeting’s top advisers, according to a guest list obtained by NBC, was Matamata-born Chris Liddell. At the time he was deputy chief of staff for policy coordination.
Two years later, Liddell told TVNZ1’s Q + A from the West Wing’s Roosevelt room: “We’ve never had a show of hands.
“We don’t run our own little democracy here,” he said.
“If there had been a meeting like that, if there had been a vote, I certainly would have voted against the separation of children.
“I think it was a terrible policy.
“In fact, my office ran a policy process to develop an executive order clarifying shortly after that separation of minors should not be part of our policy.”
Trump signed an executive order in June 2018 to stop family separations. But, in November of this year, NBC reported that lawyers have yet to find the parents of nearly 700 children.
This is Liddell’s first televised interview since assuming his role in the White House. Due to its current role in handling the transition to the next White House administration amid Trump’s claims of fraud and refusal to grant the result, Q + A agreed to strict parameters for interview subjects.
There are some things I would not comment on publicly. But, he addressed several controversies from his time as Trump’s adviser.
Despite the controversy, Liddell said he never considered quitting.
“From my point of view, have there been times when I did not agree with the president’s decision? Of course.
“But, I never felt like I disagreed so much with what he was doing that I seriously considered leaving.”
He recognized the personal cost of working for Trump.
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Kiwi-born Liddell called the policy “terrible” and says he would have opposed it if there had been a vote. Source: Q + A
“The way I describe it – look, I’ve lost friends by being here; I have not lost my soul. “
Liddell added: “I believe in what I am doing. I am proud of what I have done here. “
As for Trump’s character and how he took it into account, Liddell said he continued to respect the president.
“I think he represents a core constituency in this country that desperately needs to be represented.
“So from my point of view, it’s worth the bloody noses and the criticism I get externally for being here.”
ENCOUNTERS WITH TRUMP ‘THE MOST STIMULATING PART OF MY DAY’
Liddell described his role in the White House as responsible for “com[ing] with policy options for the president to consider ”after meeting with heads of agencies.
“This is the biggest and hardest job in the world … I wanted to challenge myself.”
He particularly enjoyed the policy meetings with Trump, who enjoyed “vibrant conversation” and “vigorous debate.”
“Our policy meetings will have four, five, six directors, and they will represent different points of view depending on the issue … and we will debate the issue.”
Before becoming the so-called New Zealand man in the White House, Liddell earned degrees from both the University of Auckland and the University of Oxford, and later held senior positions at Carter Holt Harvey, General Motors, and Microsoft.
It’s because he wanted to challenge himself that Liddell said he enjoyed working with the “difficult” Trump. He has now been nominated by Trump to become Secretary General of the OECD.
“The most stimulating part of my day is the interaction I have with him. It’s tough, and it pushes me, and it pushes everyone else out there. But, at the same time, he asks my opinion ”.
It is his union of different perspectives that made him “reasonably successful” and why he is now the administration’s longest-serving official, he said.
“They trust me to represent their opinions in front of the president, and the president trusts me to make sure that the right opinions are in front of him as well. So it’s obviously critical that you listen to different perspectives. “
He said that many people come to the White House with a personal agenda,
“I do not have that. For me, it’s, ‘I want to be that honest runner. I want people to trust me and actually I just want to get the right result. ‘
He said he understood that Trump was “unpopular” in New Zealand.
“But I also accept that my job is to do something important. And this is a blood sport. And if you’re not up for taking some hits, then, you know, you shouldn’t be here.
“But in terms of dealing with the president, I have found it incredibly refreshing and not easy, because he is difficult … and he looks you square in the eye, and he makes sure you have an opinion.”
Watch Sunday’s full episode on TVNZ OnDemand here.
