As Trump blasts leaks, discipline possibility unclear
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump vented over White House leaks Monday as a new tell-all book commands attention, an anonymous writer detailing “resistance” in the administration remains unidentified and a former staffer reveals more private recordings of the commander in chief.
But while Trump continues to insist privately that he wants leakers punished, it remained unclear if his administration would mete out any discipline. Spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said no lie detectors were being used to smoke out the writer of an unsigned New York Times opinion piece, though she insisted the West Wing would like to see an investigation.
Sanders said it’s up to the Justice Department to make that determination.
“But someone actively trying to undermine the duly elected president and the entire executive branch of government, that seems quite problematic to me and something they should take a look at,” she said.
A White House official has said Trump was just venting over the essay and wasn’t ordering federal prosecutors to take action.
At a White House press briefing, Sanders slammed the book “Fear,” from veteran journalist Bob Woodward, as “careless and reckless.”
Trump tweeted Monday that he has been subjected to “Phony books, articles and T.V. ‘hits’ like no other pol has had to endure.”
Set for public release Tuesday, “Fear” on Monday was ranked as the top-selling book on Amazon.
Trump tweeted that “the Woodward book is a Joke — just another assault against me, in a barrage of assaults, using now disproven unnamed and anonymous sources. Many have already come forward to say the quotes by them, like the book, are fiction. Dems can’t stand losing. I’ll write the real book!”
Amid the drama, former staffer Omarosa Manigault Newman sought to seize some of the spotlight by releasing a recording she said was of Trump talking to junior aides during a communications meeting. Trump jumps from topic to topic, talking about the real “Russia story” involving his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton; the deadly Niger ambush on American soldiers; and economic gains.