White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said Sunday that there are fewer leaks coming from the White House now that “some leakers” are “long gone.”
“Every president deserves to have a leak-free, ridiculous anonymous op-ed free type of White House,” Conway said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
{mosads}”There are some leakers who are long-gone,” she added. “They’re just leaking now to authors and books. [Leaks] have gotten much better. We’ve seen that.”
Conway’s comments come days after The New York Times published an explosive anonymous op-ed written by a “senior [Trump] administration official.” The op-ed, which described an internal “resistance” within the White House working to undermine President Trump, rocked Washington and set of a flurry among Trump officials seeking to identify the anonymous writer.
Reports also emerged this week that the White House is working to identify which team members spoke to veteran journalist Bob Woodward for his upcoming book, “Fear: Trump in the White House.” The Washington Post published a series of excerpts from Woodward’s book this week, some of which claimed staffers in the White House are seeking to stave off Trump’s impulses, regularly bad-mouthing the president behind closed doors.
Trump and the White House have vehemently denied claims made both in the op-ed and in Woodward’s book, with the president implying the op-ed is an act of “treason” and Woodward’s book is full of lies.
“I’ll tell you what happened this week,” Conway said on NBC. “The team tightened up even more because of all of this. We are tighter this week because we are so joined in our outrage.”
“Yes, I hope we learn the identity of the person, but why elevate the person?” Conway added, referring to the anonymous op-ed author.
Woodward’s book is the latest of several published accounts of chaos and dissent from within the Trump White House. Former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman stirred controversy last month with the release of her memoir, “Unhinged: An Insider’s Account of the Trump White House.” Journalist Michael Wolff also prompted backlash following the release earlier this year of his book, “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.”
The White House has insisted each account is riddled with falsities.