Trump Demands Changes To White House Communications Team As Leaks Continue

Leaks have plagued President Donald Trump’s administration since his reign began, the latest being White House special assistant Kelly Sadler’s “he’s dying anyway” remark about Sen. John McCain.

In order to prevent such leaks, Trump has demanded changes to his communications team, which will see the removal of some junior and midlevel employees from the unit that has the reputation of being one of the most divided offices in the White House.

John Kelly, the White House chief of staff, signed a plan to bring about the necessary changes in the communications team. Politico reported the plan will not affect senior officials such as Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Some of the staff might not be fired immediately, but could be moved to other departments, especially the ones outside the West Wing, according to the CNN.

This is not the first time changes to the communications office were under consideration. The New York Times reported the phones of West Wing aides were often scanned for non-government devices apart from the officials being asked to drop their phones in a storage locker when they get to work.

President Trump reportedly was furious that in spite of having the biggest communications team, he received “the worst press.” In addition to blaming the team for not delivering his initiatives in the best light possible, he also believes the leaks are the reason he is deprived of better headlines.

Trump in a meeting earlier in May also asked Sadler and other communication aides to identify the leakers in the team. However, a few days later, White House adviser Kellyanne Conway told Fox News she has identified some of the leakers.

"But they're not all in the press and comms shop either, and they're not all junior folks," she added, but did not provide any more details.

However, the breaking point came when Sadler’s comment about Sen. McCain, who has a malignant brain tumor, leaked. Earlier in May, a meeting was held in the White House led by deputy press secretary Raj Shah to discuss McCain’s opposition to Gina Haspel’s nomination as the CIA director. During the meeting, Sadler reportedly said McCain’s disapproval did not matter as he was dying anyway.

A day after Sadler’s comment was leaked, a furious Sanders held another meeting and told the group: “I am sure this conversation is going to leak, too. And that’s just disgusting.”

Her prediction came true as ABC News reported the outlines of the meeting soon. Another incident that sparked the fast-tracking of the plan was when a junior aide was discovered taping meetings with the president in order to impress his friends.

Top officials such as John Kelly and newly-appointed national security adviser John R. Bolton view these leaks as a security issue.

During an interview with Fox News Radio, Bolton said, “I’m determined to cut them down. The president has to have advisers around him who can have open candid discussions.”

Kelly, who had replaced Reince Priebus, is also of the opinion that staff members with ill-defined roles should be removed.

"I think in some cases in terms of staffing or serving the President that first six months was pretty chaotic and there were people — some people hired that maybe shouldn't have hired some people that were — it was just, I wish I'd been here from the beginning because I could have brought the organization from, you know, from Day One. ... Now it's not that things were a disaster for that six months, but I believe they could have been better," Kelly said.