Trump team launches a sweeping loyalty test to shore up its defenses
Political appointees across the Trump administration are being subjected to unusual interviews to gauge their support for the president.
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It’s “an exercise in ferreting out people who are perceived as not Trump enough,” said one person briefed on the meetings.
“If they’re spending time trying to hunt down leakers, that’s time they’re taking away from advancing an agenda,” said a former senior administration official who’s spoken with officials undergoing the interviews. “And that’s irresponsible.”
The interview process, along with White House chief of staff Mark Meadows’ ongoing hunt for leakers, shows how the White House — less than four months before the presidential election — remains consumed by loyalty and optics despite urgent policy problems such as a raging coronavirus pandemic, nationwide worries about reopening schools and historically high unemployment. This week’s White House drama over Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease doctor, highlighted the persistent internal concern about whether government officials are in line with Trump’s preferred policy approaches — such as the president’s desire to downplay the latest coronavirus surges.
The reinterviewing exercise is being led by Johnny McEntee, a 30-year-old who's been a Trump aide since the 2016 campaign and was installed earlier this year as chief of the White House personnel office and is responsible for filling thousands or jobs across the federal agencies.
