Molly A. Michael
{{Short description|American political operative}}
{{Notability|date=July 2024}}
Molly Amelia Michael is an American political operative and former government staffer. She was a Deputy Assistant to the President and Executive Assistant to the President during the Trump Administration. Michael was a key figure in President Donald Trump's day-to-day life at the White House and in his post-presidency life.
Early life
Michael grew up outside of Chicago and attended Palm Beach Atlantic University.{{Cite web |date=March 24, 2022 |title=CTRL0000060751 - Deposition of Molly Michael, (Mar. 24, 2022) |url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-J6-TRANSCRIPT-CTRL0000060751/pdf/GPO-J6-TRANSCRIPT-CTRL0000060751.pdf |website=GovInfo}} While in college, she was a legal intern with attorney Scott Hawkins, former president of the Florida Bar Association. She served as a political intern with Florida House member Mark Pafford.{{Cite web |last=oniwac@pba.edu |date=2019-11-11 |title=Students Selected to Receive Research Fellowships {{!}} PBA • Palm Beach Atlantic University |url=https://www.pba.edu/news/students-selected-to-receive-research-fellowships/ |access-date=2024-11-03 |website=PBA • Palm Beach Atlantic University |language=en-US}}
Career
Michael started working at the White House in 2017. In 2018, Michael became President Trump's executive assistant in the White House.{{Cite web |title=Trump wrote to-do lists for assistant on White House documents marked classified: Sources |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/trump-wrote-lists-assistant-white-house-documents-marked/story?id=103226113 |access-date=2024-07-08 |website=ABC News |language=en}} In December 2020, Michael conveyed information from the President regarding alleged election fraud to high-ranking administration officials.{{Cite web |last=Solender |first=Andrew |title=Emails Reveal How Trump White House Pressured DOJ On Election Fraud |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewsolender/2021/06/15/emails-reveal-how-trump-white-house-pressured-doj-on-election-fraud/ |access-date=2024-07-08 |website=Forbes |language=en}} Michael was notably absent from work on the morning of January 6, 2021 for personal reasons, which may have contributed to some of the gaps in President Trump's call logs that day.{{Cite web |date=March 31, 2022 |title=Scoop: New clue on Trump gap |url=https://www.axios.com/2022/03/31/trump-molly-michael-jan6-white-house-call-logs}}
After President Trump left the White House, Michael remained in his service.{{Cite web |last=Crilly |first=Rob |date=2021-01-23 |title=Trump's young guns: The five former White House staffers setting up his Mar-a-Lago office - Washington Examiner |url=https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/1515821/trumps-young-guns-the-five-former-white-house-staffers-setting-up-his-mar-a-lago-office/ |access-date=2024-07-08 |language=en-US}} She was reportedly close enough to him to proactively reach out to friends and allies to ask them to contact the former president with "positive affirmations."{{Cite web |last=Khullar |first=Samaa |date=2022-12-19 |title=Trump aide follows him on golf course with a printer to boost ego with "uplifting articles": report |url=https://www.salon.com/2022/12/19/aide-follows-him-on-golf-course-with-a-printer-to-boost-ego-with-uplifting-articles-report/ |access-date=2024-07-08 |website=Salon |language=en}}
In November 2021, Michael received a subpoena from the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol.{{Cite web |title=Molly Michael Subpoena Nov 9 {{!}} PDF |url=https://www.scribd.com/document/544438058/Molly-Michael-Subpoena-Nov-9 |access-date=2024-07-08 |website=Scribd |language=en}} In March 2022, she appeared before the Select Committee, describing herself as an employee of Save America, Donald Trump's political action committee.
Because of her proximity to the former president, Michael is considered a key witness in many of the legal proceedings against the President. Unlike other current and former staffers of his, she has reportedly demonstrated cooperative behavior with law enforcement.{{Cite news |last1=Dawsey |first1=Josh |last2=Alemany |first2=Jacqueline |date=2023-06-12 |title=Evidence in Trump's indictment came from inside Mar-a-Lago and those hired for him |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/06/10/trump-indictment-aides-molly-evan/ |access-date=2024-07-08 |newspaper=Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}} In 2022, following the FBI's search of Mar-a-Lago related to the classified documents, Michael helped transfer additional files to the FBI upon discovering them in her work area. Some of those documents included to-do lists written on classified documents.{{Cite web |title=Meet Molly Michael, the 'witness from hell' for Donald Trump's defense |url=https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/9/20/2194390/-An-obscure-longtime-aide-could-be-the-witness-from-hell-for-Donald-Trump |access-date=2024-07-08 |website=Daily Kos |language=en}} President Trump reportedly urged her not to tell law enforcement officials about her knowledge of any classified documents that were improperly handled.{{Cite news |last1=Haberman |first1=Maggie |last2=Feuer |first2=Alan |date=2023-09-19 |title=Trump Is Said to Have Told Aide Not to Acknowledge She Knew of Documents |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/19/us/politics/trump-aide-classified-documents.html |access-date=2024-07-08 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} Legal analysts described her as a potential "witness from hell" for former President Trump.{{Cite web |last=Reporter |first=Giulia Carbonaro US News |date=2023-09-20 |title=Why Molly Michael is the "witness from hell" for Donald Trump |url=https://www.newsweek.com/why-molly-michael-witness-hell-donald-trump-1828359 |access-date=2024-11-03 |website=Newsweek |language=en}}