Washington: The disclosure that President Donald Trump divulged classified intelligence to two high-ranking Russian officials was a new blow to an already dispirited and besieged White House staff still recovering from the uproar and recriminations from the President's firing of FBI director James Comey.
Mr Trump's appetite for chaos, coupled with his disregard for the self-protective conventions of the presidency, have left his staff confused and squabbling. And his own mood, according to two advisers who spoke on the condition of anonymity, has become sour and dark, turning against most of his aides - even his son-in-law, Jared Kushner - and describing them in a fury as "incompetent", according to one of those advisers.
More World News Videos
- Video duration
- 01:29
President trumps his own team on message
President trumps his own team on message
Donald Trump's staffers scramble to get their stories straight with the President amid a whirlwind week at the White House.
Up Next
Schapelle Corby: life after Bali
- Video duration
- 01:50
- Video duration
- 01:50
Schapelle Corby: life after Bali
Schapelle Corby: life after Bali
Now 39, Corby has spent the last three years on parole in Bali after serving almost 10 years of her original 20-year jail sentence inside the resort island's notorious Kerobokan prison.
Up Next
MP3 is dead
- Video duration
- 02:23
- Video duration
- 02:23
MP3 is dead
MP3 is dead
With the developer of the MP3 declaring it 'dead' this week, we look back at the format that changed how we listen to music.
Up Next
Video surfaces of Chris Cornell's last performance
- Video duration
- 01:34
- Video duration
- 01:34
Video surfaces of Chris Cornell's last ...
Video surfaces of Chris Cornell's last performance
Audioslave and Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell died on Wednesday night in Detroit. He was 52.
Up Next
Times Square crash caught on video
- Video duration
- 00:36
- Video duration
- 00:36
Times Square crash caught on video
Times Square crash caught on video
Video captured by Italian broadcaster Mediaset shows the moment a car crashed into a crowd in New York's Times Square.
Up Next
Trump calls Russia probe a 'witch hunt'
- Video duration
- 01:02
- Video duration
- 01:02
Trump calls Russia probe a 'witch hunt'
Trump calls Russia probe a 'witch hunt'
President Donald Trump on Thursday called the probe into possible ties between his 2016 presidential campaign and Russia 'a witch hunt' that is doing damage to the country.
Up Next
Theresa May pitches cuts to migration and welfare
- Video duration
- 01:34
- Video duration
- 01:34
Theresa May pitches cuts to migration and ...
Theresa May pitches cuts to migration and welfare
British Prime Ministerc campaigns for more welfare cuts and curbs to benefits for some immigrants, revealing her conservative party's election platform on Thursday.
Up Next
Car slams into Times Square pedestrians
- Video duration
- 00:59
- Video duration
- 00:59
Car slams into Times Square pedestrians
Car slams into Times Square pedestrians
A speeding car plowed into pedestrians on a sidewalk in New York City's busy Times Square on Thursday, killing one person and injuring 22, and authorities said there was no indication it was an act of terrorism.
President trumps his own team on message
Donald Trump's staffers scramble to get their stories straight with the President amid a whirlwind week at the White House.
Even before the latest bombshell dropped, reports swirled in the White House that the President was about to embark on a major shake-up, probably starting with the dismissal or reassignment of Sean Spicer, the press secretary.
Mr Trump's rattled staff kept close tabs on a meeting early on Monday in which the President summoned Mr Spicer; the deputy press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders; and the communications director, Michael Dubke, to lecture them on the need "to get on the same page", according to a person briefed on the meeting.
Related Content
Even as Mr Trump reassured advisers such as Mr Spicer that their jobs were safe at the morning meeting, he told other advisers he knew he needed to make big changes but did not know which direction to go in, nor who to select.
Later, reporters could hear senior aides shouting from behind closed doors as they discussed a defence after Washington Post reporters informed them of an article they were writing that first reported the news about the President's divulging of intelligence.
As they struggled to limit the fallout on Monday, Mr Spicer and other Trump aides decided to send Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster, the national security adviser, to serve as a surrogate.
They realised that selecting such a high official would in some ways validate the story, but they wanted to establish a credible witness account exonerating the President from wrongdoing before the barrage of Twitter posts they knew would be coming from Mr Trump on Tuesday morning.
The White House counsel's office worked with the army general on framing language, producing a clipped sound bite: "The story that came out tonight as reported is false."
As he was working on his statement, General McMaster - a former combat commander who appeared uncomfortable in a civilian suit and black-framed glasses - nearly ran into reporters staking out Mr Spicer's office.
"This is the last place in the world I wanted to be," he said, perhaps in jest.
As the general approached microphones on the blacktop in front of the West Wing, one of his deputies responsible for coping with the fallout, Dina Powell, could be seen peering behind the reporter pack to see how her boss' statement was being received.
On Capitol Hill, there were signs that Republicans, who mostly held the line after Mr Comey was ousted, were growing alarmed by, and impatient with, Mr Trump's White House operation.
"There need to be serious changes at the White House, immediately," said Senator Patrick J. Toomey, a Pennsylvania Republican who wants Mr Trump to appoint a Democrat to head the FBI.
The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, on Tuesday called on Mr Trump to operate with "less drama".
In his comments to reporters on Monday, Senator Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican close to some in the White House, was explicit about the situation.
"Obviously they're in a downward spiral right now," he said, "and they've got to figure out a way to come to grips with all that's happening."
A dozen of Mr Trump's aides and associates, while echoing his defiance, privately agreed with Senator Corker's view. They spoke candidly, in a way they were unwilling to do just weeks ago, about the damage that was being done to the administration's standing and the fatigue that was setting in after months of having to defend the President's missteps, Twitter posts and unpredictable actions.
The latest crisis comes at the worst possible time for Mr Trump's team. His national security and foreign policy staffs have been spending much of their time planning for his coming eight-day trip to the Middle East and Europe - his first major overseas trip as President, and an opportunity, they thought, to reset the narrative of his presidency after the lingering controversy of Mr Comey's sudden dismissal last week.
There is a growing sense that Mr Trump seems unwilling or unable to do the things necessary to keep himself out of trouble, and that the presidency has done little to tame a shoot-from-the-hip-into-his-own-foot style that characterised his campaign.
There is a fear among some of Mr Trump's senior advisers about leaving him alone in meetings with foreign leaders out of concern he might speak out of turn.
General McMaster, in particular, has tried to insert caveats or gentle corrections into conversations when he believes the President is straying off topic or onto boggy diplomatic ground.
This has, at times, chafed the President, according to two officials with knowledge of the situation. Mr Trump, who still openly laments having to dismiss his first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, has groused that General McMaster talks too much in meetings, and the President has referred to him as "a pain", according to one of the officials.
In private, three administration officials conceded that they could not publicly articulate their most compelling - and honest - defence of the President: that Mr Trump, a hasty and indifferent reader of printed briefing materials, simply did not possess the interest or knowledge of the granular details of intelligence gathering to leak specific sources and methods of intelligence gathering that would do harm to United States allies.
The New York Times