Trump may be preparing for a wide-ranging firing spree

President Donald Trump may be preparing to fire a host of top administration officials.
Those reported to be on the chopping block include the national security adviser, H.R. McMaster; Attorney General Jeff Sessions; Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin; the former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe; and the White House chief of staff, John Kelly.

President Donald Trump may be preparing to fire a host of top administration officials following this week's abrupt firing of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

Some of the firings may happen as soon as Friday, but no one is quite sure who will be next.

H.R. McMaster, national security adviser
White House correspondent, John Roberts,
reported Wednesday that McMaster was at the front of Trump's firing line, with sources calling his departure "imminent." Tensions between McMaster, a disciplined three-star general who has reportedly chafed with Trump's spontaneous, disorganized style, have reportedly

Jeff Sessions, attorney general
Vanity Fair reported on Wednesday
in a brutal tweet
in late February.

David Shulkin, secretary of veterans affairs
a spate of scandals in his agency
, including reports that he misused taxpayer dollars to bring his wife on a trip to Europe and that he's attempting to purge the VA of employees not loyal to him. Shulkin's rumored replacements include Energy Secretary Rick Perry and the Fox News cohost Pete Hegseth.

Andrew McCabe, former FBI deputy director

John Kelly, White House chief of staff
handling of domestic-abuse allegations
against the former White House staff secretary Rob Porter, one of Kelly's top aides. Some of Trump's allies say it would be a "lethal" mistake for the president to oust Kelly, who many feel is a stabilizing force within the White House and has helped quell some of the backbiting that plagued the administration for much of its first year.
Ben Carson, housing and urban development secretary
reports of his lavish spending

Trump denies the reports — but then talks about more potential changes

"They wrote a story about staff changes and it was very false," Trump told a gathering of reporters at the White House. "There will always be change but very little. It was a very false story. A very exaggerated and false story. But there will always be change. And I think you want to see change. I want to also see different ideas."

Trump added that CIA Director Mike Pompeo, whom he has nominated to replace Tillerson, and Larry Kudlow, a CNBC commentator he picked to replace outgoing top economic adviser, Gary Cohn, are examples of positive change in his administration.

But White House staffers are describing an anxious mood amid rumors of another wave of firings, with one official calling it "the most toxic working environment on the planet," the news website Axios reported Wednesday.

"There's no leadership, no trust, no direction, and at this point there's very little hope," the official continued. "Would you want to go to work every day not knowing whether your future career was going to be destroyed without explanation?"

Sonam Sheth, Allan Smith, and David Choi contributed reporting.

Trump may be preparing for a wide-ranging firing spree

Trump denies the reports — but then talks about more potential changes

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