Despite the White House’s best efforts to stop internal leaks, information continues to flow freely from private meetings between senior members of Trump’s administration, directly to the press.
The latest window into Trump’s chaotic White House comes courtesy of ABC News, who’s reporting that the president “went ballistic” on Reince Priebus and Steve Bannon, after Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from any investigations pertaining to Trump’s ties to Russia during the 2016 campaign.
Sources told ABC News that Trump felt Sessions’ recusal would only empower Trump’s many enemies. The crisis was amplified by the fact that Trump was coming off a relatively positive news cycle after his speech to Congress was deemed a success by most pundits. “We should have had a good week. We should have had a good weekend. But once again, back to Russia," a senior White House official said.
Politico also reported that the meeting was contentious, with one source adding that "there were fireworks," and that Trump is "tired of everyone thinking his presidency is screwed up."
Video of the encounter, which was captured by press pool cameras aimed directly at the West Wing windows, show a visibly irate Bannon, along with other senior members of Trump’s staff. After the meeting, Trump left Washington D.C. for Mar-A-Lago, while Bannon and Priebus stayed behind. While reports suggest that the two men—both of whom were expected to make the trip with the President—volunteered to stay behind, Twitter had a different opinion:
