White House adviser Kellyanne Conway said Thursday that she knows who some of the officials are who have been leaking information about internal White House procedures.
“Somewhat, yes,” Conway said when asked on Fox News if any of the identities of the leakers are known. “But they’re not all in the press and comms shop either, and they’re not all junior folks.”
Conway didn’t name anyone, and didn’t say if steps were being taken to discipline leakers.
Leaks have plagued the Trump White House from the start. Last week, it was leaked that a communications aide, Kelly Sadler, said in a meeting that Sen. John McCain’s opposition to Trump’s nominee to lead the CIA doesn’t matter because “he’s dying anyway” and has not voted for the last few months.
Conway said that many of the leaks have not been leaks of damaging policy information, and instead have been leaks that are aimed at making White House officials look bad.
“I think that people who were leaking last week clearly were doing that to hurt the people that were the target of the leaks,” she said. She added that in most cases, the leak is about process, and not about policy information.
She noted as examples that first lady Melania Trump’s hospitalization this week was not leaked, not was Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s surprise trip to North Korea.
Still, Conway indicated that steps are being taken to eliminate White House leaks.
“I think smaller, tighter meetings are always a better idea,” she said.
