Aides to then-President Donald Trump secretly had their hair cut by two women who worked in a ‘black market barber shop’ inside a bathroom next to the White House in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been reported.
The White House aides would book appointments with a pair of Asian-American haircutters who set up shop in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, according to the New York Post.
One of the women cut hair while the other handled snacks and payment, which could total up to $70 – tip included.
The ‘speakeasy’ was the only way aides could get their hair cut in Washington, DC, which imposed a lockdown that closed all barber shops and other nonessential businesses as coronavirus infections began to proliferate nationwide.
According to the Post, the renegade operation employed two Asian American women who came recommended by the wife of House Rep. Jim Jordan, the Republican from Ohio.
Jordan’s wife, Polly, spoke glowingly of the two barbers to Debbie Meadows, the wife of then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.
‘Jim Jordan’s wife introduced them to Debbie Meadows and then Mark got the idea to bring them in during the pandemic,’ a former White House official told the Post.
‘[Meadows] said he was bringing in this lady to cut hair [and] told people to email Beau [Harrison] to book an appointment.’
Harrison was assistant to the president for operations under Trump.
Another former White House official said Meadows ‘had his personal barber go to the EEOB and do it [and] had people schedule it through the [operations] shop.’
The barber shop was popular among the young men who worked in the White House, according to the Post.
‘I’m sure they would have agreed to style women, though it was definitely targeted to the male staffers,’ one of the former White House officials told the Post.
‘I can’t say for sure if any women ever went.’
