Trump aides 'at their wits’ end' with president's wild tweets and ever-changing stances

White House staff increasingly frustrated with leader's unexpected outbursts as he signs $1.3 trillion spending bill hours after threatening veto

White House staff are reportedly “at their wits’ end” with Donald Trump’s unpredictable tweets and ever-changing stances on key issues.

An administration insider says the president’s communications team were growing increasingly frustrated after his latest unexpected announcement on Friday, in which he threatened to veto the $1.3 trillion (£900bn) omnibus spending bill previously passed by Congress.

Mr Trump was unhappy with a lack of funding in the bill for his flagship border wall policy and its failure to address the fate of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) programme, which grants work permits and deferral of deportation to illegal immigrants brought to the US as children.

“I am considering a VETO of the Omnibus Spending Bill based on the fact that the 800,000 plus DACA recipients have been totally abandoned by the Democrats (not even mentioned in Bill) and the BORDER WALL, which is desperately needed for our National Defense, is not fully funded,” he tweeted.

However, just hours later Mr Trump decided to sign the bill, claiming he had done so “as a matter of national security” in order to prevent a government shutdown.

White House officials say the president was always set to approve the funding package and may have been “venting” after watching a morning of press coverage evaluating the bill as a defeat for some of his key policies.

But some aides appear to be growing weary of Mr Trump’s regular changes of position.

"The press and comms team, more than others, are at their wits’ end,” a former White House official told Politico.

“I don't blame them for being frustrated, because they're on the front lines of this and are directly responsible for dealing with the blowback of the president's un-planned tweets.”

The White House has played down Mr Trump’s concerns over funding for a wall stretching the length of America’s border with Mexico, issuing a statement from Vice President Mike Pence claiming the bill will allow work to begin on a 100-mile stretch of the project.

The president has made a habit of radically altering his stance on certain issues during his time in office and had seemingly tweeted in support of the omnibus bill as recently as Thursday.

“Got $1.6 Billion to start Wall on Southern Border, rest will be forthcoming. Most importantly, got $700 Billion to rebuild our Military, $716 Billion next year...most ever.

“Had to waste money on Dem giveaways in order to take care of military pay increase and new equipment,” he wrote.

“This is a reminder that if you’re working in this White House, you either need to spend the time with the president on the front end to know exactly what his thinking is or you need to be in constant communication with him,” said Jason Miller, Trump’s former campaign spokesman told Politico.

“If you’re just responding to what some other staffer sent you on email, then of course you’re going to be disconnected.”