White House official placed on leave after trashing the president on hidden camera: Report

A senior White House official was placed on administrative leave Tuesday after hidden camera footage obtained by Project Veritas founder and undercover journalist James O'Keefe showed him trashing President Donald Trump as a "madman." 

Benjamin Ellisten, a senior budget analyst and funding manager for the White House, told O’Keefe’s undercover staffer that Trump is a "mess" who is “f***ing it up for everybody," and the White House needs to "get rid of him."

“He’s a madman,” Ellisten reportedly said. “Literally. He’s invincible. Nothing can stop him, and that’s dangerous.”

The White House official slammed the president's leadership style as "erratic" and "scary," and speculated that he was intentionally inflating oil prices to enrich himself, according to the Daily Caller.

“The way his decisions are so erratic, you would think he drinks,” Ellisten said. “He doesn’t drink. And that’s what makes it so dangerous, that someone could be of sound mind and body, totally coherent, could just be so reckless in their decision-making. That’s scary.”

The White House confirmed to the Daily Caller that Ellisten, who has been at the White House since 2024, is on administrative leave.

“He has no direct access to the president or senior staff, and does not work on the White House campus,” a White House official told the outlet. “Such views expressed by the individual are not reflective of patriots who admirably serve in the administration.”

White House special assistant on domestic policy Maxim Lott also told O'Keefe's team member about the “chaotic” inner workings of the current administration.

“The decision-making processes are a little bit chaotic,” Lott said. “In theory, everything should sort of come from the president. But it might come from the level below him, where they’re like, ‘I think I know the president well enough to say what he would say on this.’ 

"It’s like, ‘Yeah, he would wanna do that, that would be popular.’ And then, at my level, at five levels below or whatever, still there’s a lot of discretion to be like, this is clearly like, what he would wanna do," he added.

Lott has since said he stands by his comments about the president and has not contradicted the White House.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.