WASHINGTON — Rocked by days of damaging developments, President Trump’s White House is looking ahead to the president’s upcoming foreign trip – and trying to get his plane in the air with as little additional turbulence as possible.

The White House has been notably mum since the latest bombshell report came out Tuesday afternoon, alleging Trump personally appealed to FBI Director James Comey to abandon the bureau’s investigation into then-national security adviser Michael Flynn.

In a departure from past firestorms, top aides did not appear on television to rebut the claims, and Trump did not respond on Twitter. Instead the only comment came in the form of a brief written denial. The lone adviser to appear on TV afterward, Sebastian Gorka on Fox News’ Sean Hannity show, called it “dishonest news” and then spoke at length about the need to hunt down leakers.

And while the president has been talking with outside advisers about the need to make personnel changes in the White House, an administration official said any shake-ups are on hold as his advisers take an all-hands approach to preparing for a trip that begins Friday and seeing his agenda goes as planned.


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