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Kelly Offered to Resign as Chief of Staff

February 9, 2018 · 4:45 pm ET · Leave a Comment

White House chief of staff John Kelly “has made clear to the president in the last 24 hours that he’s willing to resign in light of the president’s dissatisfaction over the West Wing’s handling of the allegations against former Staff Secretary Rob Porter,” ABC News reports.

“While Kelly’s fate is in question, sources familiar with the matter said they did not believe his departure is imminent.”

Meanwhile, Axios says Trump has floated three possible replacements for Kelly: House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, OMB chief Mick Mulvaney and businessman Tom Barrack.

White House John Kelly

Kelly Instructs Staff to Tell Story Many Think Is Untrue

February 9, 2018 · 1:05 pm ET · Leave a Comment

White House Chief of Staff John Kelly “instructed senior staff to communicate a version of events about the departure of staff secretary Rob Porter that contradicts the administration’s previous accounts,” the Washington Post reports.

“During a staff meeting, Kelly told those in attendance to say that he took action to remove Porter within 40 minutes of learning that the allegations brought by his two ex-wives were credible… That version of events contradicts both the public record and accounts from numerous other White House officials in recent days as the Porter drama unfolded.”

Some staffers “after the meeting expressed disbelief with one another and felt his latest account was not true.”

White House John Kelly

White House Knew of Abuse Allegations for Months

February 8, 2018 · 11:04 pm ET · Leave a Comment

“White House Counsel Donald McGahn knew one year ago that Staff Secretary Rob Porter’s ex-wives accused him of domestic violence, but allowed him to serve as an influential gatekeeper and aide to President Trump,” the Washington Post reports.

“Chief of Staff John F. Kelly learned in September about the allegations of spousal abuse and that they were delaying Porter’s security clearance amid an ongoing FBI investigation. But Kelly handed Porter more responsibilities to control the flow of information to the president.”

White House John Kelly, Rob Porter

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Kelly Doubles Down on ‘Lazy’ Dreamers Comment

February 7, 2018 · 3:11 pm ET · Leave a Comment

White House Chief of Staff John Kelly stuck by his comments that more than a million potential DACA recipients didn’t sign up for the program telling ABC News they were “too lazy.”

Said Kelly: “I gotta say that some of them just should have probably gotten off the couch and signed up.”

Immigration John Kelly

Kelly Referred to Dreamers as ‘Too Lazy’

February 7, 2018 · 11:01 am ET · Leave a Comment

White House chief of staff John Kelly told reporters yesterday that many potential DACA recipients didn’t sign up because “some would say were too afraid to sign up, others would say were too lazy to get off their asses.”

A source familiar tells Jonathan Swan that Kelly, in at least one other meeting, has referred to DACA recipients as “too lazy.”

Immigration John Kelly

Kelly Has a Steve Bannon Moment

January 18, 2018 · 8:13 am ET · Leave a Comment

Jonathan Swan: “Late last night, a few hours after Fox News aired Bret Baier’s interview with John Kelly, a source close to the president told me Trump would explode when he saw what his chief of staff said. The source — who has spent a lot of time with Trump — predicted the president would hate the interview because Kelly came off as the mature professional who patiently educated an uninformed Trump, and helped him see the light and evolve on The Wall.”

“Sure enough, a few hours later Trump tweets his displeasure.”

Said the source: “Kelly has finally ventured into Steve Bannon territory when it comes to trying to create the perception that he’s the ‘great manipulator,’ saving the country from Trump’s ignorance. The difference is, Steve tried to develop that reputation in off-the-record conversations with reporters. Kelly did it openly on the country’s most-watched cable network. It’s the subtle difference between hubris and arrogance.”

White House John Kelly, Stephen Bannon

Trump Finds a Way to Bypass His Chief of Staff

December 3, 2017 · 9:32 am ET · Leave a Comment

Wall Street Journal: “The president on occasion has called White House aides to the private residence in the evening, where he makes assignments and asks them not tell Mr. Kelly about the plans, according to several people familiar with the matter. At least once, aides have declined to carry out the requested task so as not to run afoul of Mr. Kelly, one of these people said.”

“The president, who values counsel from an informal group of confidants outside the White House, also sometimes bypasses the normal scheduling for phone calls that give other White House staff, including Mr. Kelly, some control and influence over who the president talks to and when.”

White House John Kelly

Kelly Praises Robert E. Lee

October 31, 2017 · 7:09 am ET · Leave a Comment

White House chief of staff John Kelly said that the Civil War was “caused by a lack of an ability compromise” and that Confederate general Robert E. Lee was “an honorable man,” Politico reports.

Said Kelly: “I would tell you that Robert E. Lee was an honorable man. He was a man that gave up his country to fight for his state which in 150 years ago was more important than country. It was always loyalty to state first back in those days. Now it’s different today. But the lack of an ability to compromise led to the Civil War. And men and women of good faith on both sides made their stand where their conscience had to make their stand.”

Political History John Kelly, Robert E. Lee

Kelly Mirrors Trump’s Priorities

October 26, 2017 · 2:24 pm ET · Leave a Comment

New York Times: “For all of the talk of Mr. Kelly as a moderating force and the so-called grown-up in the room, it turns out that he harbors strong feelings on patriotism, national security and immigration that mirror the hard-line views of his outspoken boss. With his attack on a congresswoman who had criticized Mr. Trump’s condolence call to a slain soldier’s widow last week, Mr. Kelly showed that he was willing to escalate a politically distracting, racially charged public fight even with false assertions.”

“And in lamenting that the country no longer holds women, religion, military families or the dignity of life ‘sacred’ the way it once did, Mr. Kelly, a retired four-star Marine general whose son was killed in Afghanistan, waded deep into the culture wars in a way few chiefs of staff typically do. Conservatives cheered his defense of what they consider traditional American values, while liberals condemned what they deemed an outdated view of a modern, pluralistic society.”

White House John Kelly

Quote of the Day

October 17, 2017 · 10:59 am ET · Leave a Comment

“I think I’ve called every family of someone who’s died. As far as other representatives, I don’t know. You could ask Gen. Kelly, did he get a call from Obama?”

— President Trump, quoted by the Washington Examiner., referring to his chief of staff’s son who died while fighting in Afghanistan in 2010.

White House John Kelly

Extra Bonus Quote of the Day

October 12, 2017 · 3:07 pm ET · Leave a Comment

“I’m not quitting today. I just talked to the president. I don’t think I’m being fired today. And I’m not so frustrated in this job that I’m thinking of leaving.”

— White House chief of staff John Kelly, quoted by The Hill.

White House John Kelly

Trump and Kelly Have Been Fighting

October 11, 2017 · 11:23 am ET · Leave a Comment

A person close to the White House told the Los Angeles Times that President Trump and White House chief of staff John Kelly had engaged in “shouting matches” in recent days.

“Kelly has sought to limit Trump’s free time and to prevent outsiders from bringing him unfiltered and sometimes inaccurate information that can rile him up… More often, though, Kelly and others on his side are frustrated.”

“The president, meanwhile, is said to be discomfited not only by the attempts to control him, but by the recent departure of his longtime lieutenant, Keith Schiller, who had been White House director of operations and, perhaps most important, a key interpreter and soother of Trump’s feelings.”

White House John Kelly

Kelly Has a Mar-a-Lago Strategy to Contain Trump

October 10, 2017 · 7:02 am ET · Leave a Comment

Vanity Fair: “According to conversations with four prominent Republicans close to the White House, Trump has grown frustrated with Kelly in recent weeks at what he sees as Kelly’s highhandedness. ‘They’re fighting a lot,’ one source explained. The most recent flashpoint was Kelly’s decision late last month to reassign Peter Navarro, Trump’s nationalist trade adviser, to report to Gary Cohn, without first clearing it with Trump. According to two sources familiar with the matter, Navarro bumped into Trump in the West Wing and explained that Kelly had reassigned him to work for Cohn, which was news to the president. ‘Trump was like, what the fuck? He told Navarro, “You’re my guy and hang in there,”’ said a source briefed on the conversation. The source said Trump has taken up the matter with Kelly.”

“According to two sources, Kelly has developed a Mar-a-Lago strategy to prevent Trump from soliciting advice from members and friends. (In February, Trump turned his dinner table into an open-air Situation Room when North Korea test-fired a ballistic missile.) Sources briefed on Kelly’s plans said he will attempt to keep Trump ‘out of the dining room.’ The plan looks sound on paper—but, to his staff, Trump can be a formidable adversary.”

White House John Kelly

Kelly Hasn’t Returned Ex-Chiefs of Staff’s Messages

October 7, 2017 · 9:21 pm ET · Leave a Comment

Politico: “In his first two frenetic months on the job, the retired four-star Marine general and former homeland security secretary has had minimal contact with the small club of people who have served as gatekeepers to a president before him.”

“That’s somewhat unusual. Most chiefs of staff — a position that has been described by people who have survived it as daily exercise in mimicking Edvard Munch’s painting ‘The Scream’ — have generally looked to others who have been through the fire as a resource.”

White House John Kelly

John Kelly Is No Outsider

October 6, 2017 · 9:53 am ET · Leave a Comment

Boston Globe: “The new chief of staff is often painted as an outsider, but he does have a deep well of experience to draw on to put the White House on firmer ground. He has been a fixture in Washington power circles long enough make the speaking rounds at top Beltway institutions[.] … He has forged ties among members of the House and Senate . . . And his time in the military taught him to create order from chaos, a skill badly needed in a White House roiled by competing factions and populated by outsiders who have no idea how to get things done in Washington.”

White House John Kelly

Kelly Struggles to Make Sense of Kushner’s Role

September 30, 2017 · 12:13 pm ET · Leave a Comment

Politico: “It’s not just Kelly who is uncertain of how to make the arrangement work. In recent months, according to multiple administration officials, the president has also been casually surveying people close to him about whether having his family members in the government is creating too much noise.”

“Since Kelly put his firm grip on the West Wing in July, however, the role of the Trump children has shifted. Aides claim the couple was eager for a more functional work environment, and have been happy to fall in line with Kelly’s rules.”

“But Kushner has also complained to friends and allies about his stunted status in the new regime. He can no longer simply float in and out of the Oval Office, or function in the freewheeling role he has grown used to since the campaign, he has told associates. That marks a change of status for the former real estate scion, who before working as a free-ranging agent for his father-in-law, served as the top dog at his family-owned real estate company in Manhattan.”

White House Jared Kushner, John Kelly

Kelly Bristles at Treatment by Trump

September 2, 2017 · 7:18 am ET · Leave a Comment

“President Trump was in an especially ornery mood after staff members gently suggested he refrain from injecting politics into day-to-day issues of governing after last month’s raucous rally in Arizona, and he responded by lashing out at the most senior aide in his presence,” the New York Times reports.

“It happened to be his new chief of staff, John F. Kelly.”

“Mr. Kelly, the former Marine general brought in five weeks ago as the successor to Reince Priebus, reacted calmly, but he later told other White House staff members that he had never been spoken to like that during 35 years of serving his country. In the future, he said, he would not abide such treatment, according to three people familiar with the exchange.”

White House John Kelly

Kelly Acts as Honest Broker in the White House

August 9, 2017 · 7:35 am ET · Leave a Comment

Washington Post: “In an administration that has split into factions and been ravaged by ideological warfare, Kelly has asserted himself as a rare apolitical force. So far, he has left no discernible imprint on the White House’s philosophy, yet he has assumed control of its governance, running operations and the policy process in a way that Trump advisers hope will lead to tangible results.”

“Passing up opportunities to craft policies, Kelly has acted as a neutral mediator — encouraging key players to argue their points, ensuring proposals are fully vetted and then presenting the options to the president. He has assiduously avoided being tagged as a stalking horse for Bannon and his wing of hard-line nationalists or for senior adviser Jared Kushner and his coterie of business-friendly centrists. Rather, he has cultivated personal relationships with each of the competing spheres of the White House and pledged a fair hearing for all.”

White House John Kelly

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Taegan Goddard

Taegan Goddard

Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.

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