Trump’s Top Enforcer Leads White House Leak Hunt

President Donald Trump’s closest aide has joined forces with FBI Director Kash Patel to oversee an investigation into leaks coming out of the White House.

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Trump’s Chief of Staff, Susie Wiles, and Patel both personally orchestrated an investigation into the source of information leaked to the media about the president’s newly gifted Air Force One, CNN reported on Wednesday.

Specifically, there were concerns that the plane could not provide the secure communications systems and military defenses needed for the president to manage his conflict with Iran while in the air.

As a result, Trump traveled in the previous Air Force One to a U.S. military base in the U.K. before switching back to the new jet for the flight home, claiming that he was using the old jet so that U.S. troops in England could “tour” the new one.

White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said at the time that “the new Air Force One is a state-of-the-art aircraft that has been fitted with high-level security protocols that ensure the safety of the president and his staff.”

Sources told MS NOW’s Carol Leonnig that the president was embarrassed by the swap, with Leonnig telling Katy Tur, “The Secret Service source, who I spoke to last night, said this is dancing on the head of a pin in a way, because the Service wants Donald Trump to be happy.”

“They do not want to embarrass him, but they do not want him to be in danger, which is a worse sort of fate for them, if you will,” she continued. “The Secret Service knows—top, top officials in the Secret Service know, according to my source—that the president is embarrassed by the idea of having to switch out this plane, which is part of the reason he apparently sort of made up a story about showing it off to troops in the U.K.”

“They are trying to placate a person who has insisted this plane is perfect and they are trying to, you know, no, sorry to put finer words on this, but they’re trying to save his life and save the stability of the democracy at the same time.”

Trump was incensed by the leak, according to CNN, prompting Wiles and Patel to spearhead a probe that required some officials to surrender their phones to investigators on White House grounds; not all officials who were asked to turn their devices over did so, however.

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Investigators also sought information from those traveling with Trump on the Turkey trip.

CNN reported that at least one federal agency warned employees that if they were contacted by outside agencies requesting information or devices, they needed to immediately contact their own agency’s attorneys.

Patel traveled to the White House the day after the leaks were made public and established a “war room” with Wiles, where they spent approximately seven hours planning the probe.

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and the FBI for comment. A White House official told CNN, “Leaks that jeopardize the safety of the President, his staff, and the traveling press pool are dangerous and a threat to national security. The White House takes these leaks seriously and will do everything legally to ensure the individual or individuals are caught and it does not happen again.” The FBI did not respond to CNN’s request for comment by the time of publication.

The existence of the White House’s frustrations were made public when the New York Times reported on July 12 that four of its journalists had been subpoenaed, calling it a “brazen act” and standing by its reporting.

“The appearance of federal law enforcement agents on the doorstep of news reporters should shock the conscience of any American who believes in the Constitution and the press freedom it protects,” David McCraw, a senior lawyer for the Times, said.

“This brazen act should be seen as nothing more than an attempt to prevent the public from knowing what is happening in their country by intimidating journalists from doing their jobs.”