Leaks were a major concern during Donald Trump‘s time in office thanks to a non-stop barrage of damaging stories coming out of the White House. Part of that is because Trump’s admin was a dumpster fire full of scandal, and another part is because Trump himself was the “biggest leaker,” according to a new book from former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper.
According to Esper, leaks were used frequently not just by White House underlings, but Trump himself to advance personal agendas ranging from both petty to political. “Nobody wanted to see their name in the morning news, especially when the words were so often twisted, misinterpreted, and taken out of context,” Esper wrote. “In the Trump administration, this could get you blacklisted or fired.” Via Business Insider:
“The individual motivations for the leaks ranged from advancing a preferred policy outcome to enhancing the leaker’s own role or credentials to currying favor with the president. It was a noxious behavior learned from the top. The president was the biggest leaker of all. It turned colleague against colleague, department against department, and it was generally bad for the administration and the country,” Esper wrote in “A Sacred Oath: Memoirs of a Secretary of Defense During Extraordinary Times.”
Esper’s claims jibes with an anecdote from Chris Christie’s book, Republican Rescue, where the former New Jersey governor revealed that Trump once bragged to him about leaking a story that Christie was being considered for White House Chief of Staff. After learning that Trump was the source of the leak, Christie took a pass on the position.
(Via Business Insider)