Republican senators believe that White House leakers should face consequences for undermining the president.
Sens. Bob Corker of Tennessee and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina came out strong against leakers in a Thursday press conference following the release of private phone calls between President Donald Trump and foreign leaders.
The phone call transcripts, which were leaked to The Washington Post, detail conversations that Trump had with both Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
In an uncharacteristically passionate outburst, Corker explained his dissatisfaction with the idea that someone would go behind the president’s back.
“I have encouraged the president … to fire every single person that’s had anything whatsoever to do with backbiting, undermining other people for their own benefit or leaking,” Corker said, adding that anyone who is even suspected of involvement in such behavior should be immediately let go.
“To have people [at the White House] that are leaking information … these people should be fired,” Corker exclaimed. “They should be out of government, they’re disloyal to our government, and I hope that’s what’s going to happen.”
Graham reflected those concerns.
“I think it really is a disservice to the president this happened,” Graham told reporters. “Could you imagine being president of the United States, having a conversation with a foreign leader and that conversation being divulged to the media? It’s just not fair to President Trump.”
Graham went onto to state that he hopes the leaker is caught and “punished.”
“You just can’t have people in the government, working for the president, picking and choosing what to leak,” Graham said. “That’s just wrong.”
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