GOP congressman calls on Trump to ‘purge leftists’ from the White House before they ‘sink us’

Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King, a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump, wants the commander in chief to clean house, in a manner of speaking.

In a late-night tweet Sunday, King wrote that Trump should "purge" the "leftists" from the White House "before disloyal, illegal & treasonist [sic] acts sink us."

King shared the recommendation along with a Conservative Review op-ed by Daniel Horowitz, who suggested Trump could become a lame-duck president "unless he clears out Obama holdovers."

In his column, Horowitz asserted there is "a silent coup within the intelligence agencies" seeking to sabotage Trump and, in order to resolve the problem, the writer called for the firing of any staffer or appointee who doesn't "share the views of the president."

Horowitz argued that when then-President Barack Obama took over in 2009, he exercised "full control over every nook and cranny of the executive branch." Trump, he argued, has not experienced that same luxury.

From the Conservative Review article:

Any open borders official within [the Justice Department] and [the Department of Homeland Security] should be gone. Any pro-government-run health care supporter within [the Department of Health and Human Services] has to go. Any official within [the Treasury Department] who is not on board with the [Office of Management and Budget] spending cuts and pro-growth tax cuts should go out and campaign for their cause … on the outside. Any State Department official who is a shill for refugee resettlement, a Palestinian State, the Muslim Brotherhood, or who opposes the president’s immigration moratorium must go.

King's tweet about the article follows a tumultuous week for Trump. On the heels of a well-received address before a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, officials within the Justice Department revealed that U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions had communications with Russian diplomats after seemingly failing to disclose such interaction during his confirmation hearings.

According to a report from the Washington Post, then-Sen. Sessions (R-Ala.) spoke twice last year with Sergey Kislyak, Russia's ambassador to the United States. One of those meetings, the Post reported, took place in Sessions' office in September, which, according to U.S. intelligence officials, was at the height of what they believe to have been a Russian cyber campaign to impact the U.S. presidential election.

Sessions, for his part, has denied that any campaign-related conversation occurred.

Following the Sessions news, Democrats swiftly began calling for the attorney general's resignation. While he has not stepped down from his post, Sessions did announce Thursday that he would recuse himself from any investigation into the Trump campaign.

Trump, according to sources who spoke to CNN, is becoming increasingly frustrated by the leaks plaguing his administration and was especially angered by the firestorm surrounding Sessions. "Nobody has seen him that upset," one unnamed source told the cable news network.

The president was described as "hot" Thursday night, following Sessions' decision to recuse himself, another source told CNN. Trump reportedly thought the attorney general's decision was hasty and over-the-top.

One source close to the White House said Trump was particularly angry with members of his senior staff —  including chief of staff Reince Priebus — about the bumpy week the administration experienced.

Moving forward, Horowitz called on Priebus to quash the leaks and opposition coming from within the White House and the intelligence community.

"His job is to make the trains come on time," he wrote. "If he cannot quell the divisions and ensure that the Obama holdovers are gone, there is no use to his services."