Trump's Personal Assistant Fired and Removed from White House

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While Donald Trump heads off to San Diego to tour nativist wall designs, his personal assistant was fired and escorted off the White House grounds so abruptly that he didn't even have time to grab his jacket.

Michael C. Bender at the Wall Street Journal reports:

Donald Trump's personal assistant, John McEntee, was escorted out of the White House on Monday, two senior administration officials said. The cause of the firing was an unspecified security issue, said a third White House official with knowledge of the situation.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders declined to comment saying, "We don't comment on personnel issues." Mr. McEntee didn't return a call seeking comment.

...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.

It wasn't clear exactly why Mr. McEntee was fired Monday. He indicated to colleagues that it was an issue in his background.

After news of the firing, it quickly ciculated that, in December, a Politico profile of McEntee noted in passing that McEntee routinely forged Trump's signature to prank other staffers:

For months, he has played a practical joke on unwitting staffers by handing them a note, "signed" by Trump, whose signature McEntee has perfected. The note usually gives the staffer a hard time about something, or an "atta-boy" for all of the work they are doing. Only later does McEntee reveal that he wrote it, as other staffers usually start laughing. Many hang on to the notes as keepsakes. "For context, it's about having fun," one former White House staffer hastened to explain. "Not trying to undermine the U.S. government."

Perhaps that had something to do with McEntee's eventual firing, but it's a three-month old published report at this point, so, if that's the reason, it sure took a long time. It seems more likely that, as McEntee told colleagues on his way out the door, something came up in his background during this recent focus on White House security clearances.

In any case, Trump isn't bothered by whatever it is, as McEntee will reportedly join Trump's reelection campaign. Talk about landing on your feet.

ETA. [CN: Video may autoplay at link] Kaitlan Collins, Jeremy Diamond, and Jeff Zeleny at CNN report that 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 told CNN. The charges are not related to the President, the source said."

And yet McEntee will nonetheless join the Trump campaign "as a senior adviser for campaign operations."