President Donald Trump said Tuesday he wants to change some members of his White House, while assuring that “there is no chaos, only great energy!”
In a tweet, Trump pushed back against a slew of recent news reports describing “chaos” among White House staff.
In the past week, Trump once again pilloried his own attorney general, calling Jeff Sessions “disgraceful” for his handling of the DOJ investigation into potential surveillance abuses as part of special counsel Robert Mueller‘s Russia probe.
The same day, Trump lost one of his closest aides, White House communications director Hope Hicks, a day after she reportedly testified in a closed hearing before the House Intelligence Committee that she tells “white lies” as part of her job. Some outlets disputed that Hicks’ resignation announcement was related to her testimony, but CNN reported that Trump berated her for the admission. The White House denied CNN’s report.
On Thursday, Trump’s announcement of tariffs on steel and aluminum reportedly came as a surprise to many of his own staff and raised concerns of a trade war from fellow Republicans. Top economic advisor Gary Cohn was urged by Trump’s close contemporaries not to resign over the tariff plan.
Trump also suggested to Vice President Mike Pence, in an open-press meeting with a bipartisan group of lawmakers, that authorities should be able to bypass due process when taking guns from potentially dangerous people.
His administration also weathered reports that many White House aides, including his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, had their top-level interim security clearances downgraded in the wake of former staff secretary Rob Porter’s alleged spousal abuse scandal.
Trump’s Tuesday morning tweet was quickly followed by six more before 9 a.m. ET. Trump criticized the “total inaction” by Democrats on passing immigration reform, retweeted reports on increased oil production and a meeting between the leaders of North Korea and South Korea, and joked about the low ratings for the film award ceremony, the Oscars.
