CABINET/CIA/NATIONAL SECURITY: “CIA Director Mike Pompeo carves out three hours almost every weekday to drive from Langley, Virginia, to the White House with his team to give President Donald Trump his national security briefing in person.
The CIA director’s treks to the West Wing reflect Trump’s insistence on frequent meetings with favored members of his team. Every president has regular contact with key Cabinet members, but Trump, who remains deeply mistrustful of career agency officials, has turned the White House into a hangout for his chosen department heads.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has met with the president at least 34 times since he was confirmed in February, according to a POLITICO analysis of Trump’s interactions since taking office. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross are also frequent guests at the White House — so much so that one White House staffer quipped, “Wilbur practically lives here.” Defense Secretary James Mattis has enjoyed private meetings with the president, and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt has taken to eating at the White House mess several times a week.
Senior aides say Trump demands face time with his appointees in part because he doesn’t trust bureaucrats who do the day-to-day work of the federal government. The president shuns them as tools of what he often refers to as the ‘deep state,’ and blames them for frequent, unflattering news stories coming from his White House, according to two White House aides.”
-Tara Palmeri and Andrew Restuccia, “Trump demands face time with favored Cabinet heads,” Politico, June 19, 2017 05:05am