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Where the president gets his advice

Maggie Haberman, a star White House correspondent at The Times, joined us yesterday for a wide-ranging conference call with DealBook readers about the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. (Listen to a recording of the call here.) Among many other things, Maggie talked about the people the president trusts on the crisis, both inside and outside the government.

“There’s a group of people he is listening to, but they don’t always agree.”

• Maggie said that President Trump isn’t wedded to any particular opinion or receptive to advice from a specific person, which “should be clear based on the degree to which he has bounced around on what he’s said.”

“He gets as angry at Mnuchin as he does at almost anybody else who works for him.”

• Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has emerged as the face of the government’s economic stimulus efforts, despite the president blaming him for recommending Jay Powell as Fed chairman. Wall Street considers Mr. Mnuchin a “steadying presence,” Maggie said, “and there is a recognition in the administration that they have to make their steadying presences known and available and seen.”

“The top of any list is always Steve Schwarzman.”

• In the business world, Mr. Trump most often turns to the founder of Blackstone, according to Maggie. Rupert Murdoch is also an important confidant. Generally speaking, the advice the president receives from corporate moguls he trusts has been to worry about the effect of an extended lockdown on the economy.