Tag: Gen. Kelly

John Kelly: I would vote to remove Trump

The former White House chief of staff also denounced members of the administration for not rejecting the president’s norms-shattering actions in recent years.

Former White House chief of staff John Kelly said on Thursday he would vote to remove President Donald Trump from office if he were still part of the administration.

Speaking with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Kelly said Cabinet members should meet to discuss the president’s role in the Capitol riots on Wednesday. When Tapper asked whether he would have voted to remove Trump, Kelly responded, “Yes, I would.”

Kelly has at times criticized the president since leaving the White House in 2019. But his interview on Thursday was the first time he openly endorsed the president’s removal. He also denounced members of the administration for not pushing back against Trump’s norms-shattering actions over the past two years, and said he wasn’t surprised by the president’s words egging on the storming of the Capitol. Continue reading.

John Kelly criticizes Trump over delay of Biden transition

“It’s about the nation,” Trump’s former chief of staff says in an interview with POLITICO. The wait “hurts our national security.”

President-elect Joe Biden should start receiving intelligence briefings, and the delay in allowing the transition to officially get started is damaging U.S. national security, President Donald Trump’s former chief of staff John Kelly told POLITICO in an exclusive interview.

“You lose a lot if the transition is delayed because the new people are not allowed to get their head in the game,” Kelly said Friday. “The president, with all due respect, does not have to concede. But it’s about the nation. It hurts our national security because the people who should be getting [up to speed], it’s not a process where you go from zero to 1,000 miles per hour.”

“Mr. Trump doesn’t have to concede if he doesn’t want to, I guess, until the full election process is complete. But there’s nothing wrong with starting the transition, starting to get people like the national security people, obviously the president and the vice president-elect, if they are in fact elected, to start getting them [up to speed] on the intelligence,” he said. Continue reading.

Former White House chief of staff tells friends that

Former White House chief of staff, retired Marine Gen. John Kelly, has told friends that President Donald Trump “is the most flawed person” he’s ever known.

“The depths of his dishonesty is just astounding to me. The dishonesty, the transactional nature of every relationship, though it’s more pathetic than anything else. He is the most flawed person I have ever met in my life,” the retired Marine general has told friends, CNN has learned.

The reporting comes from a new CNN special scheduled to air Sunday night, “The Insiders: A Warning from Former Trump Officials,” in which former senior administration officials — including former national security adviser John Bolton, former Health and Human Services scientist Rick Bright and former Department of Homeland Security general counsel John Mitnick — explain why they think the President is unfit for office. Continue reading.

‘He got nasty’: Former White House chief of staff rips Trump and defends James Mattis

AlterNet logoAfter resigning from his position as secretary of Defense in December 2018, Gen. James Mattis was reluctant to criticize President Donald Trump. But that changed this week during the George Floyd protests when Mattis, in comments published by The Atlantic, called Trump out for being so divisive.

As Mattis’s comments stoke both praise and backlash, former White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly came out on Thursday to defend the former Pentagon chief.

Mattis disagreed with Trump’s threat to use military force during the demonstrations. And he asserted: “Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people — does not even pretend to try. Instead, he tries to divide us.” Continue reading.

Trump drags John Kelly’s wife into the fray as he rages at former chief of staff for not keeping ‘his mouth shut’

President Donald Trump attacked John Kelly — and bashed his wife — after the former White House chief of staff criticized his actions toward Ukraine.

Trump lashed out at the retired Marine Corps general for siding with Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who testified against the president in the impeachment inquiry.

“When I terminated John Kelly, which I couldn’t do fast enough, he knew full well that he was way over his head,” Trump tweeted. “Being Chief of Staff just wasn’t for him. He came in with a bang, went out with a whimper, but like so many X’s, he misses the action & just can’t keep his mouth shut, which he actually has a military and legal obligation to do.” Continue reading.