White House aides have tried to keep reporters abreast of President Trump’s rapid personnel changes over the past month, despite instances in which spokespeople denied a staffing shift was coming just moments before it occurred, deputy press secretary Raj Shah said Monday.
“We continue to give you guys the best information as we can,” Shah told reporters at the White House amid rising speculation that Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin could be next to exit the administration.
Shah dodged questions about the fate of Shulkin, who has generated negative headlines for the Trump administration with questionable travel expenses and his staff’s subsequent efforts to conceal them.
“I have no personnel announcements to make at this time,” Shah said when pressed about Shulkin’s future.
White House communications staff have struggled to keep up with Trump’s rapid and unexpected moves over the past several weeks. For example, Trump has nominated his CIA director to the secretary of state position, announced his intention to meet with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un and threatened to veto the omnibus spending bill he eventually signed — often without informing the aides tasked with explaining these decisions to the media.
Although press secretary Sarah Sanders took to Twitter earlier this month to deny reporting about the impending ouster of national security adviser H.R. McMaster, Trump announced he would replace McMaster with John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, just days later.
