President Trump criticized the way Sean Spicer handled an investigation into leaks from his communications team.
(Photo: Fox News screen grab)
After a report surfaced that the press secretary collected his staffers’ phones and conducted a surprise phone check to make sure they weren’t communicating with reporters through encrypted apps, the president said he would have handled the situation differently in an interview on “Fox and Friends” Tuesday.
“Well, first of all, Sean Spicer is a fine human being, he’s a fine press secretary,” Trump said.
“I would have done it differently ,though. I would have gone one on one with different people. We don’t have a major leak process here. We have a major leak process in government. But I would have handled it differently than Sean, but Sean handles it his way, and I’m OK with it.”
.@POTUS reacts to WH staffers' phone check: "I would've handled it differently than Sean, but Sean handles it his way & I'm ok with it" pic.twitter.com/hZPta7GX35
— FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) February 28, 2017
Politico reported that Spicer called his staffers in for an “emergency meeting” last week. When they entered the room, they “were told to dump their phones on a table for a ‘phone check,’ to prove they had nothing to hide.”