Sources told CNN on Wednesday that White House counselor Kellyanne Conway is working to undermine and leak information against Press Secretary Sean Spicer.
Though they offered no hard evidence to support their claim, the five sources sympathetic to Spicer believe that Conway is working to blame the White House spokesman for issues facing the administration to bolster her own position with President Trump.
Conway denied having any involvement in leaks concerning Spicer.
"Absolutely not," she told CNN. "It's absolutely false. Sean has my full support, but most importantly, he has the president's full support. We work as a team."
"Sean's doing a great job with impossible odds," Conway added. "He's got a tenacity and focus that's going to serve him well long term."
The counselor to President Trump noted that she turned down the press secretary job when offered during the transition period, arguing that indicates she has no motive to undermine Spicer.
Recent anonymous leaks to the media have framed a narrative that the president is unhappy with Spicer's performance as his spokesman and will soon be dismissed from the job. But senior White House officials are rejecting such claims, saying Trump fully supports Spicer.
White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and senior strategist Steve Bannon deny that Spicer is in trouble with Trump and say the spokesman still has Trump's "full confidence," Mediaite noted. Priebus is blaming low-level staffers for spreading the rumor that Spicer's job is in trouble, while Bannon believes the media is behind it.
Critics have noted that infighting within the Trump administration is hindering efforts to execute policy. Staffers have been accused of working to undermine one another in order to bolster themselves in the eyes of Trump for their own gain.
Some have speculated that the rumored dispute between Spicer and Conway is due to the latter's many television appearances, leading to questions of who really speaks for the president.
Conway told CNN she would "reduce [her] television exposure" going forward.