Donald Trump’s chief of staff called a sudden meeting on Friday to assure colleagues that their jobs were safe amid reports of upheaval, plummeting morale and more imminent departures from the White House.

John Kelly’s unusual intervention came at the end of a week that saw the abrupt firing of Rex Tillerson and widespread speculation that national security adviser HR McMaster could be next.

“The chief of staff actually spoke to a number of staff this morning, reassuring them that there were personnel changes – no immediate personnel changes at this time – and that people shouldn’t be concerned,” press secretary Sarah Sanders said. “We should do exactly what we do every day and that’s come to work and do the very best job that we can. And that’s exactly what we’re doing.”

She added: “That’s exactly what we’re focused on, and many of us have relayed that to other staffers that weren’t part of that meeting. And we’re going to continue to focus on having record success in this second year as we had in our first year. We fully expect to do that and we expect to do that as a staff and as a team.”



The West Wing revolving door has spun faster and faster in recent weeks. Rob Porter, Trump’s staff secretary, Hope Hicks, his communications director, and a top economic adviser Gary Cohn have all departed in quick succession. Shortly after dismissing Tillerson as secretary of state and replacing him with Mike Pompeo, Trump told reporters: “I’m really at a point where we’re getting very close to having the cabinet and other things that I want.”

Media reports have described the institutionalisation of chaos, as the purge threatens in all directions. On Wednesday the Axios website quoted an unnamed official as saying: “This is the most toxic working environment on the planet. Usually tough times bring people together. But right now this atmosphere is ripping people apart.”

A day later the Washington Post reported: “The mood inside the White House in recent days has verged on mania.”

The same Post article, citing multiple sources, said Trump had decided to oust McMaster, who succeeded the disgraced Michael Flynn as national security adviser. Sanders swiftly denied the report via Twitter on Thursday night. But on Friday she acknowledged that Trump had asked her to pass on the reassurance to McMaster rather than doing it himself.

Sanders said: “I spoke directly to the president last night. He asked me to pass that message along to General McMaster. I know the two of them have been in meetings today. Our focus is not on the news stories that a lot of you guys would like us to be focused on, but we’re actually focused on what the American people want us to do, and that’s to come here and do our jobs.”

Attempting to dismiss the rumours as mere palace intrigue, she added: “General McMaster is a dedicated public servant and he is here not focused on the news stories that many of you are writing but on some really big issues – things like North Korea, things like Russia, things like Iran. That’s what he’s doing and that’s what we’re going to continue to be focused on every single day that we show up for work.”

McMaster may be living on borrowed time, however. His style is said to rile Trump, who feels he is being lectured, and there have reportedly been policy clashes over North Korea and the Iran nuclear deal. Tara Palmeri, a journalist at ABC News, tweeted that McMaster told her outside the West Wing on Friday afternoon: “Sarah set it straight yesterday. Everybody has got to leave the White House at some point.”

Asked whether he is leaving sooner rather than later, McMaster said only: “I’m doing my job.”