White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Monday that reports of a rift at the highest levels of the White House, between the President’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner and his chief strategist Steve Bannon, had been “overblown.”
At Spicer’s daily press briefing Monday, referring to reports that the President stepped in to resolve a heated division between the two advisers, CBS News’ Major Garrett asked what prompted Trump “to have, or order, this meeting on Friday where the two principals, Bannon and Jared Kushner, were essentially told by the President: ‘Cool this and get along and get on the same page.'”
“I think there was a lot of stuff that was overblown about this that makes it out to the media sometimes and gets a little bit more sensational than it truly is,” Spicer replied, adding later: “I think that he recognizes that sometimes some of this spills over — these policy differences and discussions — and he’s made sure the focus stays on advancing the agenda.”
Asked again later about reports of infighting, especially over Trump’s order of a missile strike against a Syrian airfield on Thursday, Spicer said Trump didn’t want “monolithical” thinking and advice. New York magazine reported Friday, citing two unnamed sources close to Bannon, that he was against the strike.
“I would say a couple things, Jeff,” Spicer told CNN’s Jeff Zeleny. “One is, a lot of this is frankly overblown. Number two is the reason the President’s brought this team together is to offer a diverse set of opinions. He doesn’t want a monolithical kind of thought process going through the White House. He wants a diverse set of opinions. He is the decider. He has people come in, give him a variety of options and plans.”
“I think sometimes some things might spill out in the public more than other things,” he added.
