US President Donald Trump has grown extremely frustrated with senior staff at the White House for their poor handling of the controversy surrounding US Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ meeting with Russian officials.
The new president vented to top aides on Friday during a meeting in the Oval Office over Sessions’ recusal from any investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election, CNN reported Sunday.
Trump is displaying increasing flashes of anger over the performance of his senior staff and daily developments about Russia overshadowing his message, multiple people inside the White House and outside the administration told CNN.
On Thursday, Sessions said he will step aside from a US Justice Department inquiry into alleged contacts between aides in Trump’s election campaign and the Russian government.
Sessions, a major policy adviser to the Trump campaign, had failed to disclose in his Senate confirmation hearing about his meetings with the Russian ambassador in Washington during the president's election campaign.
"Nobody has seen him that upset," one source said, adding the feeling was the communications team allowed the Sessions news, which the administration considered not newsworthy, to overtake the narrative.
"The staff fumbled," Trump told the team for not being prepared when the Sessions news was circulated, according to another source.
Trump was "hot" and exasperated Thursday night after Sessions' recusal, a source familiar with the situation said, considering it hasty and overkill.
Trump also feels attacked by the media, officials in former President Barack Obama’s administration and others, and frustrated that things are not going more smoothly, sources said.
One source with knowledge of Friday’s meeting said Trump was angry at senior staff, including White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, about the state of affairs in his administration.
Trump is disappointed because he believes he is not getting the recognition he thinks he deserves for his time in office so far because of self-inflicted wounds and blunders, the source said.
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