After information from a meeting with his own staffers leaked to the media, Press Secretary Sean Spicer summoned them to a meeting with White House attorneys and forced them to turn over every digital device in their possession for a "phone check," Politico reported Sunday.
The search reportedly included any devices staffers had with them, including personal and government devices. Spicer warned staffers that using encrypted messaging apps like Signal, Whisper, Wickr and Confide were violations of the Federal Records Act, according to the report.
The account, ironically, is a leak itself. It comes from several anonymous sources and is the latest in a stream of leaks from within President Donald Trump's administration that paint an anonymously sourced, unflattering picture of the Trump White House.
In the face of stories about his team and their purported relationship to Russia, Trump has decried the leaks as illegal and lashed out at news outlets that have been most eager to publish leaks from the administration and intelligence community.
Back at the meeting, after searching the devices of everyone present, Spicer allegedly warned staffers that more consequences would come from leaking information about that meeting and the phone check.
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