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Professional Advice to Trump Administration: ‘Tell It Early, Tell It All, Tell It Yourself’

Professional Advice to Trump Administration: ‘Tell It Early, Tell It All, Tell It Yourself’
National security advisor Mike Waltz speaks during an ambassador meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House on March 25, 2025. Win McNamee/Getty Images
Lanny Davis
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Commentary
That advice—about telling the truth early, all, and yourself—has been my core strategy as a lawyer who specializes in crisis management and media communications strategy. It is the subtitle of a book I wrote 20 years ago. Pete Hegseth, for one, could ask his former Fox News Channel colleague, Sean Hannity, who often introduced me when I was a guest on his show as the “Tell it early, all, yourself” crisis management expert.
Lanny Davis
Lanny Davis
Author
Lanny Jesse Davis is a political operative, lawyer, consultant, lobbyist, author, and television commentator. Mr. Davis is the founder of the Washington, D.C., law firm, Lanny J. Davis & Associates. He is one of the first to use the concept of legal crisis management to solve client problems—operating at the intersection of law, media, and politics. He is a former special counsel to President Bill Clinton in 1996–98 and served on a privacy and civil liberties panel appointed by President George W. Bush. He has been writing his “Purple Nation” column for more than 13 years.