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Latest Gabe Sherman (VF): Trumps friends say president dry tinder awaiting a match. Meanwhile...
his latest hires are already creating new management nightmares for John Kelly.
Link to tweet
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/04/inside-trumpworld-allies-fear-the-boss-could-go-postal-and-fire-mueller
There have been times during Robert Mueller’s investigation—Mueller’s subpoenaing of Trump business records, for instance—when White House advisers worried Trump seemed on the verge of triggering a constitutional crisis by firing Mueller, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, or Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. The stunning Cohen raid is another one of these moments. “He’s sitting there bitching and moaning. He’s brooding and doesn’t have a plan,” a Republican close to the White House said last night. “I could see him having a total meltdown and saying, ‘Fuck it, I’m firing all of them,’” a Trump friend told me. “This is very dry tinder. If someone strikes a match to it, you could see it catching fire,” added a former official. --snip--
“It’s the Scaramucci situation,” another former official pointed out. “Trump just said, ‘You work for me.’”
Already, there have been flash points, conflicts beneath the level of Trump’s attention. According to sources, Bolton told Kelly he wanted to replace N.S.C. spokesman Michael Anton, but Kelly resisted. Bolton overruled him. “Bolton said to Kelly, ‘The president told me to get rid of anyone he thinks is a leaker. If you’re going to stop this then you’ll own every leak coming out of the N.S.C.,’” a person briefed on the conversation said.
Kelly also resisted Bolton’s request to remove N.S.C. official Ylli Bajraktari, who had worked as an assistant to the deputy secretary of defense during the Obama administration and was close to H.R. McMaster. Conservatives have accused Bajraktari of leaking the story that Trump ignored instructions not to congratulate Vladimir Putin on winning his election. (A source familiar with the discussions said Bolton was not responsible for Anton and Bajraktari’s departures, and that the two, as McMaster allies, had been planning to leave. The source added that they were not leakers. “It’s just not true,” the source said.)
(more at link above)
“It’s the Scaramucci situation,” another former official pointed out. “Trump just said, ‘You work for me.’”
Already, there have been flash points, conflicts beneath the level of Trump’s attention. According to sources, Bolton told Kelly he wanted to replace N.S.C. spokesman Michael Anton, but Kelly resisted. Bolton overruled him. “Bolton said to Kelly, ‘The president told me to get rid of anyone he thinks is a leaker. If you’re going to stop this then you’ll own every leak coming out of the N.S.C.,’” a person briefed on the conversation said.
Kelly also resisted Bolton’s request to remove N.S.C. official Ylli Bajraktari, who had worked as an assistant to the deputy secretary of defense during the Obama administration and was close to H.R. McMaster. Conservatives have accused Bajraktari of leaking the story that Trump ignored instructions not to congratulate Vladimir Putin on winning his election. (A source familiar with the discussions said Bolton was not responsible for Anton and Bajraktari’s departures, and that the two, as McMaster allies, had been planning to leave. The source added that they were not leakers. “It’s just not true,” the source said.)
(more at link above)
