There’s Something About Katie

katie britt
People who have known Britt for many years are still perplexed by how such an ostensibly savvy operator botched the delivery of a potentially career-accelerating speech. Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Tara Palmeri
March 22, 2024

On Tuesday night, I had a bit of free time in between a whiskey tasting at Esther Coopersmith’s Kalorama mansion, a book party at Cafe Milano, and a source meeting at Off The Record, the subterranean hangout at The Hay-Adams, so I decided to pop by the bar at The Capital Grille, the Republican haunt on Pennsylvania Avenue. I bumped into Ted Cruz, who told me he was perfectly happy staying in the Senate, despite being floated as a possible Attorney General in a putative Trump II administration. Cruz, like several of his colleagues, was attending a party for Richard Shelby, the former Alabama senator. But all eyes in the room were on Shelby’s former protégé and successor, Katie Britt