The proclivity of former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman to record conversations with colleagues, including the president and her firing in the Situation Room by Chief of Staff John Kelly, has prompted the administration to further restrict staffers use of mobile devices in the West Wing.
An earlier policy enacted 19 months ago called for them to leave their devices in lockers right outside the Situation Room, but the latest crackdown requires staffers to leave both personal and White House-provided devices in their offices or in lockers near entrances to the West Wing before being allowed into the room, according to a report from CNN, which cited two anonymous senior administration officials.
After explosive excerpts from an upcoming book on the Trump administration were published in January and reports noted that author Michael Wolff taped interviews, the White House banned staffers from using their personal cellphones as it said it would do last year.
In a statement at the time, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that since the "security and integrity of the technology systems at the White House is a top priority for the Trump administration” that all personal devices belonging to “guests and staff will no longer be allowed in the West Wing."
