Zippyjuan
02-28-2017, 02:26 PM
"The White House is running so smoothly. So smoothly. Believe me." ("believe me" often means he is making things up again).
http://nypost.com/2017/02/26/spicer-searches-staffers-phones-in-leak-crackdown-report/
WASHINGTON — Frustrated by leaks in the Trump administration, the White House cracked down on staffers last week, making them pile their phones on a table to prove they had nothing to hide, Politico reported Sunday, citing sources.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer assembled the group of communication staffers in his office in the West Wing, scolded them about details of private conversations appearing in media reports and made them surrender their phones and other electronic devices to be examined, the website reported.
Spicer sought advice from White House counsel Don McGhan before calling the meeting and carrying out the “phone checks.”
He warned that encrypted messaging apps — such as Confide and Signal — violated the Federal Records Act, sources in the White House meeting told Politico.
Before the meeting at Spicer’s office, staffers had to put their electronic devices on a table, Politico reported.
Spicer expressed his frustration with the media finding out about private meetings, and made clear he didn’t want the phone checks to be leaked to the press.
Also last week, the State Department circulated a four-page memo about the dangers of leaks, which soon was leaked to the Washington Post.
The crackdown on leaks is a reaction to President Trump’s growing frustration with information about his administration freely flowing to the press.
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/trump-sean-spicer-leak-probe-fox-interview-235480
Trump breaks with Spicer on leak probe: 'I would have done it differently'
President Donald Trump said this week that he would have handled a leak investigation differently than Press Secretary Sean Spicer, who ordered a group of White House staffers to turn over their cell phones for inspection.
Trump said Spicer has “done a very good job,” but said he would have taken a different approach to finding the source of information leaked from a White House communications meeting. At what was billed as an “emergency meeting” last week, Spicer ordered a dozen or so communications staff members to put their cell phones, both government-issued and personal, on a table.
Details of the meeting were soon leaked and Spicer declined to comment to POLITICO when asked about them.
"Sean Spicer is a fine human being. He's a fine person. I would have done it differently. I would have gone one-on-one with different people,” Trump told Fox News’s “Fox & Friends” in an interview that was taped Monday at the White House and aired Tuesday morning. “I would have handled it differently than Sean. But Sean handles it his way and I'm okay with it.”
Trump, who was known to plant stories and serve as an anonymous source for reporters in New York before entering the political world, has railed against the media and its practice of background sourcing. Just weeks into his presidency, leaked information has proven embarrassing and damaging to Trump’s administration, in one case forcing the resignation of national security adviser Michael Flynn.
In a speech last week at the Conservative Political Action Committee, Trump called the media “the enemy of the people” and said many in the press make up the sources cited in their reports. The president has also complained that those in the government leaking information to the press have done damage to U.S. national security.
Trump said “we have sort of ideas” as to the sources of the leaks, reminding the Fox News hosts that his administration has been forced to rely on “people from other campaigns” and “people from other governments” who might not back the president’s agenda.
http://nypost.com/2017/02/26/spicer-searches-staffers-phones-in-leak-crackdown-report/
WASHINGTON — Frustrated by leaks in the Trump administration, the White House cracked down on staffers last week, making them pile their phones on a table to prove they had nothing to hide, Politico reported Sunday, citing sources.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer assembled the group of communication staffers in his office in the West Wing, scolded them about details of private conversations appearing in media reports and made them surrender their phones and other electronic devices to be examined, the website reported.
Spicer sought advice from White House counsel Don McGhan before calling the meeting and carrying out the “phone checks.”
He warned that encrypted messaging apps — such as Confide and Signal — violated the Federal Records Act, sources in the White House meeting told Politico.
Before the meeting at Spicer’s office, staffers had to put their electronic devices on a table, Politico reported.
Spicer expressed his frustration with the media finding out about private meetings, and made clear he didn’t want the phone checks to be leaked to the press.
Also last week, the State Department circulated a four-page memo about the dangers of leaks, which soon was leaked to the Washington Post.
The crackdown on leaks is a reaction to President Trump’s growing frustration with information about his administration freely flowing to the press.
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/trump-sean-spicer-leak-probe-fox-interview-235480
Trump breaks with Spicer on leak probe: 'I would have done it differently'
President Donald Trump said this week that he would have handled a leak investigation differently than Press Secretary Sean Spicer, who ordered a group of White House staffers to turn over their cell phones for inspection.
Trump said Spicer has “done a very good job,” but said he would have taken a different approach to finding the source of information leaked from a White House communications meeting. At what was billed as an “emergency meeting” last week, Spicer ordered a dozen or so communications staff members to put their cell phones, both government-issued and personal, on a table.
Details of the meeting were soon leaked and Spicer declined to comment to POLITICO when asked about them.
"Sean Spicer is a fine human being. He's a fine person. I would have done it differently. I would have gone one-on-one with different people,” Trump told Fox News’s “Fox & Friends” in an interview that was taped Monday at the White House and aired Tuesday morning. “I would have handled it differently than Sean. But Sean handles it his way and I'm okay with it.”
Trump, who was known to plant stories and serve as an anonymous source for reporters in New York before entering the political world, has railed against the media and its practice of background sourcing. Just weeks into his presidency, leaked information has proven embarrassing and damaging to Trump’s administration, in one case forcing the resignation of national security adviser Michael Flynn.
In a speech last week at the Conservative Political Action Committee, Trump called the media “the enemy of the people” and said many in the press make up the sources cited in their reports. The president has also complained that those in the government leaking information to the press have done damage to U.S. national security.
Trump said “we have sort of ideas” as to the sources of the leaks, reminding the Fox News hosts that his administration has been forced to rely on “people from other campaigns” and “people from other governments” who might not back the president’s agenda.