According to CNN’s Jake Tapper, Steve Bannon might be leaking to the New York Times.
Source close to White House tells me that Bannon was “aware of the fact that WH counsel misled POTUS about his authority to fire Comey†— which was in NYT story last night — and notes that the NYT story appeared after POTUS began attacking Bannon publicly. 🤔
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) January 5, 2018
Here is the New York Times article.
After that hearing, Mr. Trump began to discuss openly with White House officials his desire to fire Mr. Comey. This unnerved some inside the White House counsel’s office, and even led one of Mr. McGahn’s deputies to mislead the president about his authority to fire the F.B.I. director.
The lawyer, Uttam Dhillon, was convinced that if Mr. Comey was fired, the Trump presidency could be imperiled, because it would force the Justice Department to open an investigation into whether Mr. Trump was trying to derail the Russia investigation.
Longstanding analysis of presidential power says that the president, as the head of the executive branch, does not need grounds to fire the F.B.I. director. Mr. Dhillon, a veteran Justice Department lawyer before joining the Trump White House, assigned a junior lawyer to examine this issue. That lawyer determined that the F.B.I. director was no different than any other employee in the executive branch, and that there was nothing prohibiting the president from firing him.
Now, this isn’t confirmed but it wouldn’t surprise me. Bannon has proved to us all he had no problem undermining the administration while he was a part of it so it certainly doesn’t shock me that he would leak after being exposed.
Bannon Articles:
Trump on Bannon: `When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind’
Bannon: Don Jr. Trump Tower Meeting with Russians ‘Treasonous’
Source: Bannon to meet with Mueller team
Rebekah Mercer: “I support President Trump and the platform upon which he was elected,â€
