Karl Rove Names Most Likely Source of White House Leaks
Former George W. Bush Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove said on Friday the White House leaks are originating from career government officials and the lack of consequences is damaging to President Trump.
“Our biggest current leaker is [James] Comey who is obviously going back to his notes, internal memorandum and through a friend or friends leaking them to the press,” Rove said during an interview on the FOX Business Network’s Cavuto: Coast-to-Coast.
Former Whitewater Independent Counsel Robert Ray said it’s possible that some of the White House leaks have resulted from Trump’s combative relationship with intelligence agencies.
“You are always going to deal with career people in Washington who don’t owe political alliance to you. They are an important part of government which the president I think has come to understand,” Ray told FOX Business’ Neil Cavuto.
Rove said outside of the intelligence community, White House staffers are the principal source of the leaks against the Trump administration.
“I am most mystified that so many people in the West Wing are spending so much time trashing their colleagues, ill-serving the president in the process but that is a deliberate decision on their part,” he said.
Rove thinks Trump needs to send a clear and direct message throughout the West Wing that any feedback against the administration is detrimental to the president’s ability to invoke policies that will better serve the American people.
“If you are trashing one of your colleagues, you are trashing me. If you are trashing a policy that we have agreed upon, you trashing me. If you are trashing me, you trashing our administration and thereby hurting our ability to serve the people who sent us here,” he said.