President Donald Trump is considering broad changes to his senior staff in the wake of backlash to his decision to abruptly terminate former FBI Director James Comey, according to reports by Axios and the New York Times.
The New York Times reported Friday, citing unnamed senior aides, that Trump is considering a “broad shake-up” of his staff.
He is dissatisfied with White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, communications director Michael Dubke and press secretary Sean Spicer, and has been particularly critical of Spicer, according to the Times, which cited “a half-dozen” unnamed officials in the West Wing.
Axios on Sunday reported, citing unnamed White House sources, that Trump’s ire also extends to members of his Cabinet, though the report noted that Trump “often talks about firing people when things go south and does not follow through on it.”
The White House press shop’s answers to basic questions about Comey’s termination changed almost hourly since Spicer first announced Comey’s firing by shouting the news to reporters from his office doorway and then locking the door.
Trump on Thursday then contradicted his entire communications staff in an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt where he revealed that he was thinking about the investigation into his campaign’s possible coordination with Russia when he fired Comey.
On Friday, Trump seemed equivocal on Spicer’s future job prospects, telling Fox News’ Jeanine Pirro that Spicer is “doing a good job, but he gets beat up.”
“Will he be there tomorrow?” Pirro asked.
“Yeah, well, he’s been there from the beginning,” Trump replied.
