Jul 9, 2023 - Politics & Policy

Former official: Trump threatened wiretaps

Mike Allen

Miles Taylor, the former Trump administration official who made a splash as "Anonymous," writes in a book out July 18 that President Trump wanted to "tap the phones" of White House aides suspected of leaks.

Taylor — a national-security and tech-policy expert who was Homeland Security chief of staff — writes in "Blowback" that White House Chief of Staff John Kelly "quickly nixed the suggestion, knowing it would be illegal."

Taylor tells me this happened in 2018.

Kelly, a retired four-star general, confirmed the account to NBC's Peter Nicholas, who writes that Trump "had wanted to pursue leakers by tapping phones, but that Kelly pushed back and never carried it out."

Steven Cheung, Trump campaign communications director, said: "Miles Taylor is a loser and a lying sack of s---. His book either belongs in the discount bin of the fiction section or should be repurposed as toilet paper."

Add Axios on Google

Former official: Trump threatened wiretaps

What to read next