President Donald Trump withheld the news from press secretary Sean Spicer that he was going to fire James Comey as FBI director over fears the news would leak from his communications team to the media, The Hill reported Saturday.
Spicer and his staff were told at the last minute before the news broke, according to The New York Times, reporting the president had growing concerns with the volume of leaks coming from the White House. He also had questions about the performance of his spokespeople.
Trump is reported to be considering a shakeup in his White House team that could include replacing Spicer, chief of staff Reince Priebus and communications director Michael Dubke, the article stated, citing "a half-dozen West Wing officials."
Trump was noncommittal on Friday about Spicer's future, telling Fox News his press secretary was a "wonderful human being" and a "nice man," but bemoaned his treatment by the Washington press corps.
"He’s getting beat up. No, he just gets beat up by these people. And again, you know, they don’t show the 90 questions that they asked and answered properly," Trump said. "I’m saying if they’re off just a little bit, just a little bit, it’s the big story."
Trump's problems with Spicer came to light when he seemingly contradicted his report of why the president fired Comey. Spicer's statement to the press stated Trump based his decision on "clear recommendations of both Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions."
The president told NBC on Thursday he was "going to fire Comey" regardless of the recommendations.
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