EXCLUSIVE: There are few people in the United States who have more significantly shaped the course of American history over the last two years, while remaining as little-known as James Braid. Millions of Americans across the country may not be familiar with the name, but in Washington, D.C., Braid is hard to miss both literally and figuratively. At 6 feet, 6 inches tall, he cast a tall shadow during his days at the White House and on Capitol Hill pushing President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda.
And that shadow has been responsible for helping push numerous legislative successes for Trump over the finish line, from rolling back Biden-era policies to passing Trump’s signature tax policy bill, until Tuesday — which marked Braid’s last day as director of the Office of Legislative Affairs. The "stock-in-trade" of the job, he told Fox News Digital in a rare interview, "is cautious optimism in the face of all odds." From the outside, being Trump’s whisperer on Capitol Hill does not look like an easy job, particularly when the president is known to personally call out lawmakers who oppose his agenda. Recently, for example, he publicized the personal phone number of Sen.
Tom Cotton, R-Ark., over his opposition to a bill making daylight saving time permanent. TRUMP DROPS REPUBLICAN SENATOR'S PHONE NUMBER IN SOCIAL POST OVER FURY ON STALLED BILL But Braid insisted that Trump’s people skills ultimately meant those dust-ups came out of the wash and lauded "his extraordinary capacity to have a tough conversation one day and play a round of golf the next." "There's always a give-and-take in any relationship with a legislator, and sometimes there's a give as a result of, you know, tension," Braid said. "But you know … one errant Truth [Social post], or one critical Truth, does not a relationship make." But some Republicans’ relationships with the president never seemed to recover, like in the case of Sen.
Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who has no love lost with Trump. Braid said the key to working with people was always being straightforward about what the White House wants. "We've been able to be honest brokers and deliver for a lot of these members in different ways," he said.
But Trump’s presence still looms large in Congress whether he’s there in person or not. A senior administration official familiar with Braid’s work told Fox News Digital that ultimately, "No one speaks for President Trump except for President Trump." The official said Trump is known to be "hands-on at every critical legislative juncture" that pushes his agenda forward. And Braid revealed that he keeps tabs on certain votes, as well.
"He always wants to know how people are voting after every major vote. He knows where people are," Braid said, adding that Trump "ultimately knows that Republicans in Congress overwhelmingly vote with him." But Braid admitted he has faced long odds over his last two years, particularly with the vast tax-and-policy package nicknamed the Big, Beautiful Bill. MILLIONS TAP TRUMP TAX CUTS THIS FILING SEASON AS REFUNDS TOP $3,400 He recalled sitting in his office one day, "I looked at the quad on the TV, and every single chyron is some variation of ‘GOP megabill in trouble.’ And yeah, I mean, there's certainly, at every moment, it was tenuous.
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