White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and FBI Director Kash Patel spent roughly seven hours in the West Wing on Friday. That's not a strategy session. That's a manhunt with good lighting.
Somebody inside the White House leaked sensitive security details about Air Force One while President Trump was flying over active conflict zones during the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey. And now federal investigators want phones.
According to The Gateway Pundit's White House correspondent Jordan Conradson, officials who traveled to Turkey or had roles in the trip have been asked to surrender their devices as part of an investigation into the unauthorized disclosure of sensitive government information. Not all officials have complied. Which tells you something about the kind of people we're dealing with.
The leak reportedly involved details about the new Air Force One — the Boeing 747 VC-25B donated by Qatar — while the President was airborne in the Middle East. Whatever was disclosed was significant enough to trigger a federal investigation, grand jury subpoenas, and a phone sweep of senior White House staff. Four New York Times reporters have already been served subpoenas to testify before the grand jury about the leaked information.
Trump himself addressed the threat environment during remarks in Turkey, telling the audience, "I'm number one on their list before you, but if I go, you go." He added, "So, perhaps someday you want to change professions." The "their" in that sentence refers to Iran, which has been linked to active assassination plots against the President — a detail that makes leaking Air Force One security protocols something considerably more dangerous than a garden-variety Washington leak.
The standard Washington defense will arrive on schedule. Someone's lawyer will call it a "whistleblower" situation. Someone at the Times will invoke the First Amendment. At least one federal agency has already emailed employees warning them about information requests related to the investigation, which suggests the circle of suspicion extends beyond the West Wing.
But here's the part that separates this from every other leak story in recent memory: this wasn't someone slipping policy disagreements to a reporter over drinks at the Hay-Adams. This was operational security information about the President's aircraft disclosed while he was in transit through a region where a hostile foreign government has openly plotted to kill him. The information had tactical value to people who would use it.
Patel and Wiles didn't spend seven hours in the West Wing on a Friday because someone tweeted a draft executive order early. They spent seven hours because the investigation is serious, the stakes are real, and the people responsible are still drawing government paychecks.
Four reporters subpoenaed. Phones collected. A grand jury convened. And at least a few officials who refused to hand over their devices, apparently betting that defiance looks better than whatever's on the screen.