Former White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus insisted on Sunday that President Donald Trump is doing a "great job" regardless of "distractions" in the White House.
On ABC's This Week, host George Stephanopoulos reflected on a week in which Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner was stripped of security clearance, the president upset Republican by announcing new tariffs and White House Communication Director Hope Hicks resigned after admitting she told "white lies" for Trump.
Priebus downplayed Kushner's security clearance.
"It takes time to get the clearances through," Priebus said. "I was, by an example, I was the very first package to go through to the FBI and DOJ. I got my temporary clearance at the end of December. I didn't get my permanent clearance until the end of April. I haven't missed a mortgage payment. I've had one wife for 19 years. These things take time."
"How it's handled can reflect poorly on the president," he continued. "And certainly, leaking against each other is something that's terrible and it's distracting and it's embarrassing. But certainly when you have leaking against the president, it's something that's fireable. I think that he deserves better coverage for the things that he's getting done."
"And I just always try to focus people on the results as opposed to the distractions. Because I do think he's doing a great job."
