White House communications director: 'There is no Trump doctrine'

White House communications director Mike Dubke told staffers in a meeting last week that President Donald Trump has no foreign policy doctrine, Politico reported on Monday.

The meeting occurred Tuesday and more than 30 White House staffers were present. Dubke and his deputy, Jessica Ditto, pitched a "rebranding" of Trump's first 100 days in office, which have been dominated by controversy and a lack of legislative achievement, according to the Politico report.

Dubke told aides at the meeting that it would be difficult to come up with a messaging strategy for Trump's foreign policy because, as aides told Politico, the communications director said "there is no Trump doctrine," much to the shock of some in the room. One source present in the meeting told the news organization that those on the campaign felt there was a pretty clear Trump doctrine of "America First."

Speaking to Politico, Dubke said he was dismayed that staffers would voice their complaints in the press rather than at the meeting.

"It was a brainstorming session and I really wish they had spoken up in the room so that we could have had an open and honest conversation," he said. "It is unproductive adjudicating internal discussions through the media."

Additionally, Dubke said the "rebranding" remark was misinterpreted.

"There is not a need for a rebranding but there is a need to brand the first 100 days," he said. "Because if we don't do it the media is going to do it. That's what our job is."

Trump is just days removed from the most consequential foreign policy decision of his young presidency: Ordering missile strikes in Syria in response to a chemical weapons attack launched by the Syrian government that killed scores of civilians. The missile strikes targeted the airfield where the chemical weapons attack was launched from.