Anxiety is spreading through President Donald Trump’s orbit as aides brace for what one insider fears could become an all-out purge.
With the midterms two weeks away, Trump administration officials expect heavy Republican losses to set off sweeping personnel changes across the government, CNN reported Tuesday. Trump is expected to look for aides to blame while others consider leaving a weakened lame-duck White House.
“If we lose both the House and Senate, there’s really no telling what happens,” one Trump adviser told CNN. “Everyone is fair game.”
The tension has turned a White House that once prized its unity into a hotbed of leaks and backstabbing, according to administration officials, advisers and allies who spoke to CNN.
“It’s more brutal than any other situation in modern times in the White House,” one Trump ally said. “You can’t trust anybody here.”
The infighting has spilled into the open several times in recent weeks. Trump pushed out Kimberly Guilfoyle as ambassador to Greece after a GOP donor revealed she had asked him for $100,000 to cover credit card debt. He also fired his new press secretary, Katie Zacharia, after just five days on the job, and ordered his White House counsel to look into a feud between Alina Habba and Richard Grenell over allegations that Kennedy Center money was misallocated, CNN noted.
Chief of staff Susie Wiles and outside political advisers James Blair and Chris LaCivita have also been the subject of unflattering stories, which their defenders blame on rivals angling for Trump’s favor. “A knife to James or Chris is meant for Susie,” one source told CNN.
Cabinet officials are on edge as well. Some secretaries are expected to weigh leaving rather than face months of investigations from newly empowered Democrats, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is expected to be an early target. Allies of National Institutes of Health director Jay Bhattacharya worry he could be fired after clashing with White House budget director Russ Vought over grant spending.
White House spokesman Davis Ingle brushed off talk of internal turmoil as “baseless speculation,” saying Trump is “laser-focused on maintaining Republican majorities in Congress this November.”
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