White House leakers leak about leaking
Source: Axios
Why does this White House leak like its going out of style? I reached out to some of the Trump administrations most prolific leakers people who have been wonderful sources to me (and, I assume, plenty of other reporters) to get them to explain the draw.
"To be honest, it probably falls into a couple of categories, one current White House official tells me. "The first is personal vendettas. And two is to make sure there's an accurate record of what's really going on in the White House."
"To cover my tracks, I usually pay attention to other staffers' idioms and use that in my background quotes. That throws the scent off me," the current White House official added.
"The most common substantive leaks are the result of someone losing an internal policy debate," a current senior administration official told me. "By leaking the decision, the loser gets one last chance to kill it with blowback from the public, Congress or even the President." "Otherwise," the official added, "you have to realize that working here is kind of like being in a never-ending 'Mexican Standoff.' Everyone has guns (leaks) pointed at each other and it's only a matter of time before someone shoots. There's rarely a peaceful conclusion so you might as well shoot first."
Read more: https://www.axios.com/donald-trump-trade-war-china-grand-bargain-2205d03e-38d4-40e1-9585-b611318ea1ae.html
lunatica
(53,410 posts)Backstabbing each other.
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)That's Trump in a nutshell. If the head is rotten, the rest of the fish will rot.
BobTheSubgenius
(11,564 posts)"I'm in the loop. I know *THIS* and you didn't know it until I told you."
Pepsidog
(6,254 posts)AwakeAtLast
(14,132 posts)RainCaster
(10,884 posts)Yes, we have all heard this phrase too many times, but it keeps fitting and I live rubbing his nose in it.
thesquanderer
(11,990 posts)This takes you to the right place...
https://www.axios.com/trump-white-house-leakers-leak-about-leaking-dae05b8e-e792-41a7-bb74-c2756b542cd0.html