John McEntee, a personal assistant to President Donald Trump, was today fired and escorted out of the White House for unspecified security reasons. His was not the only high-profile White House departure today: Trump also fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. This is not normal.
NEWS: Johnny McEntee was fired because he is currently under investigation by the Department of Homeland Security for serious financial crimes, a source familiar with his firing tells CNN.
This source says the charges are not Trump related.
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) March 13, 2018
What kind of financial crimes get investigated by the Department of Homeland Security? https://t.co/8ZoXYm0r4K
— Matt Pearce ? (@mattdpearce) March 13, 2018
From the Wall Street Journal‘s Mike Bender:
Tuesday morning, the Trump presidential campaign issued a statement saying that Mr. McEntee will join the 2020 effort as a senior adviser for campaign operations.
(…)
Mr. McEntee wasn’t as well known as the others, but had been a constant presence at Mr. Trump’s side for the past three years. He made sure Mr. Trump had markers to sign autographs, delivered messages to him in the White House residence and, over the weekend, ensured that the clocks in the White House residence were adjusted for daylight-saving time.
“It’s not going to be great for morale,” one White House official said about Mr. McEntee’s departure.
Mr. McEntee was removed from the White House grounds on Monday afternoon without being allowed to collect his belongings, a White House official said. He left without his jacket, a second White House official said.
Here are the Trump admin staffers who have resigned or been fired in the last two weeks:
– Secretary of State Rex Tillerson
– Director of the National Economic Council Gary Cohn
– Comms Director Hope Hicks
– Personal aide John McEntee
– Senior Comms Official Josh Raffel https://t.co/ji5MXM3mjs— Dan Merica (@danmericaCNN) March 13, 2018
John McEntee, Trump's just-fired personal aide, was fond of forging the president's signature but it was totally about fun https://t.co/h95qHMlNd8 pic.twitter.com/bnSa8K0UB1
— John McQuaid (@johnmcquaid) March 13, 2018