(Reuters) – The U.S. president, Donald Trump, is considering a broader cabinet reshuffle after the removal of Attorney General Pam Bondi this week, as he grows increasingly frustrated with the political consequences of the war with Iran, five people familiar with White House internal discussions said.
Any possible reshuffle could serve as a reset for the White House, as it faces a politically challenging period: the war, which is now five weeks old, has driven up gasoline prices, reduced Trump’s approval ratings and heightened anxiety about the consequences for Republicans preparing for the midterm elections in November.
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Some allies said that his televised address to the nation on Wednesday – which a senior White House official described as an attempt to project a sense of control and confidence about the direction of the war – did not land, increasing the sense that changes in messaging or personnel were needed.
‘A change to show action isn’t a bad thing, right?’ said another White House official.
Three White House officials and two other sources with knowledge of the administration’s dynamics spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity to discuss delicate personnel matters.
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The sources did not consistently describe any cabinet member as certain to lose their job in the near term. But several officials are in some degree of danger, they said.
Several of the sources said that Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s Director of National Intelligence, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick are among the possible candidates, after Trump dismissed Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in recent weeks.
In recent months, Trump has expressed dissatisfaction with Gabbard, said a senior White House official. Another source with direct knowledge of the matter said that Trump asked allies what they thought about possible replacements for his intelligence chief.
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Some high-level Trump allies, meanwhile, are privately pressing for Lutnick’s removal, a close personal friend of the president who has faced renewed scrutiny in recent months over his relationship with the late sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein.
Newly released records earlier this year revealed that Lutnick had lunch with Epstein on his private Caribbean island in 2012. Lutnick said he ‘almost had nothing to do’ with Epstein and that the lunch occurred only because he was on a boat near the island.
The White House spokesperson, Davis Ingle, said that Trump maintains ‘total confidence’ in Gabbard and Lutnick.
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‘The president has assembled the most talented and impactful Cabinet of all time and, collectively, they have achieved historic victories on behalf of the American people, from Director Gabbard’s role in ending Maduro’s narcoterror regime to Secretary Lutnick’s role in securing major trade and investment deals,’ wrote Ingle in an email when asked for comment.
One spokesman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence indicated to Reuters a Thursday post from the White House on X, in which White House Communications Director Steve Cheung is quoted as saying that Trump has ‘total confidence’ in Gabbard.
The Department of Commerce did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Nandita Bose, Jana Winter, Andrea Shalal and Gram Slattery; editing by Colleen Jenkins and Edmund Klamann)
