White House officials are venting their frustration with Donald Trump’s behavior following revelations that he reportedly trash-talked former FBI Director James Comey to the Russians.
White House officials are reportedly venting their frustration with Donald Trump’s behavior following new revelations that he reportedly trash-talked former FBI Director James Comey during a meeting with Russian officials.
The Daily Beast spoke with multiple White House officials and got their candid — although unattributed, in exchange for honest thoughts — opinions about Trump in light of the past week’s worth of embarrassing leaks, which was capped off by a report about the president smack-talking Comey.
On Friday, the New York Times reported that Trump allegedly said Comey was ‘crazy, a real nut job, ‘ during a May 10 Oval Office meeting — the day after Comey’s firing — with Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian ambassador to the United States Sergey I. Kislyak.
Trump also allegedly remarked during the meeting that, ‘I just fired the head of the F. B. I.’ and that ‘I faced great pressure because of Russia. That’s taken off.’
While Trump and many of his senior staffers were on Air Force One yesterday, en route to his first foreign trip as president when that report broke, there were still plenty of other White House officials left in Washington, DC.
One Trump administration official told The Daily Beast that: ‘If Donald Trump gets impeached, he will have one person to blame: Donald Trump.’
That same official said Trump could’ve avoided a lot of the blow back, such as impeachment calls and allegations of obstruction, from the leaks.
‘Trump himself hasn’t been implicated in any of these leaks except where he’s implicated himself, ‘ the official said, adding that, ‘if he would just shut his trap, ‘ there would be nothing for critics to talk about.
The official went on to say that, under normal circumstances, the fallout from having fired Comey would be the kind of thing that a communications team can easily handle.
‘That’s the worst part: he has a competent comms staff. But they can’t do their jobs because he keeps running his mouth, ‘ the official said.
Trump’s seemingly cavalier use of Twitter and unscripted comments to press has apparently been very trying for administration officials.
‘Every day he looks more and more like a complete moron, ‘ a senior administration official and previous Trump campaign staffer told the Daily Beast.
The senior official added, ‘I wish he’d grow a brain and be the man that he sold himself as on the campaign.’
Another source, this time a Republican who had ties to a pro-Trump political group, had harsh things to say when asked if changing Trump’s administration staff would make things more palatable going forward, following the Comey trash-talking reveal.
‘Yes, if it comes with a frontal lobotomy for Trump, ‘ the source said.
The only person who gave attributed quotes to The Daily Beast was David C. Gomez, a former FBI assistant special agent in charge, who spoke about Trump’s apparent inability to see the potential legal ramifications of what he says.
Gomez noted that ‘it’s amateur night at the White House’ because ‘these guys—and Trump especially—don’t know how to not implicate themselves.’
Under normal circumstances, Gomez said that law enforcement would rely on wiretaps in these kind of situations, but since Trump ‘just comes right out and says it, ‘ there’s no need.
