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- Mark Meadows accidentally got tipsy at the White House for the first time, according to Cassidy Hutchinson's book.
- Meadows never drank alcohol before he downed White Claw at the White House in 2020, according to Hutchinson.
- "I'm drinking alcohol on a Monday morning, and I've never even had a drink before," Meadows was quoted as saying at the time.
Former President Donald Trump's onetime chief of staff Mark Meadows never drank alcohol in his life before he accidentally got tipsy off multiple cans of White Claw in the White House, ex-Meadows aide Cassidy Hutchinson said in her new memoir.
Meadows apparently did not know that the popular hard seltzer beverage contained alcohol when he downed 3-and-a-half cans of the booze at the White House on a Monday morning in mid-November 2020, according to Hutchinson's book, "Enough."
"As a dedicated and faithful Southern Baptist, Mark had never drunk an alcoholic beverage in his life — until mid-November 2020," Hutchinson says in her memoir, explaining that her former boss "consumed his first alcoholic beverage" in front of former White House budget director and "faithful Mormon" Russ Vought.
Hutchinson writes that she had asked Meadows at the time how much White Claw he drank, and he picked up a can on the table, saying, "This one's about halfway empty."
"He went over to his garbage can and held it up so we could inspect its contents," Hutchinson writes. "I counted three White Claw cans."
According to Hutchinson, Meadows explained that he was sitting with Vought and "started to get thirsty."
"I know you girls keep my fridge stocked with sparkling water, so I went and got one. I sat back down and took a sip and thought, 'Wow, this is real good!' I looked at it and saw it was Blackberry, and thought, 'The girls never got me this one before,'" Meadows said, according to Hutchinson, who recalled that she was laughing hard.
"I liked it a lot and drank it pretty quick, and went and got another. Grapefruit! Another new flavor. Then I got a third, and I remembered I hadn't offered Russ one, so I did, and he looked at me all weird and said no," Hutchinson says Meadows said, according to the book.
According to the memoir, Vought quipped, "I know times are hard now, but are they really that bad," and that's when it apparently hit Meadows that he'd been drinking booze.
"My head started feeling funny, and I look down at the can and saw that it was alcohol. I'm drinking alcohol on a Monday morning, and I've never even had a drink before," Meadows said, according to Hutchinson's book.
A rep for Meadows did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Insider on Tuesday.