“CRISIS MODE,” OR SOMETHING ELSE?
by Sharon Rondeau
(Feb. 16, 2017) — Various outlets have reported that President Donald Trump will hold a press conference at 12:30 p.m. EST Thursday in the East Room of the White House.
According to Fox News, Trump will take questions from reporters.
The Post & Email has not seen, as of press time, the topic of the presser, but it can be reasonably expected to include intelligence leaks which appear to have begun after Trump spoke with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on February 1, when the contents of an apparently at-times contentious conversation were divulged.
On Thursday morning, Trump stated that “We’re going to find the leakers” and prosecute them, repeating his assertion made on Wednesday during a presser with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
On Wednesday evening, The Wall Street Journal reported that unnamed intelligence agents are reticent to share “sources and methods” used to gather information from around the world with the Trump administration. On Thursday at 12:02 p.m., Catherine Herridge of Fox News reported that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) has denied the claim.
Some suspect that “Obama holdovers” leaked contents of the Turnbull call and telephone calls made between former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and the Russian ambassador in late December. On Monday night, Flynn was forced to resign given reports which were said to reveal that he misrepresented the substance of his calls with Vice President Mike Pence.
As The Post & Email reported earlier, the media claims that the White House is in “crisis mode.”
For decades, Trump has harbored a distrust of the mainstream media based on what he says is “dishonest” reporting. On Thursday morning, he tweeted, “…they are fading fast!”
Trump is reportedly seeking to hire an outside consultant to probe and determine the source(s) of the intelligence leaks.