Tag Archives: John Kelly

CNBC reports: White House Chief of Staff John Kelly has committed to remaining in his post through the 2020 election, according to two White House officials. Kelly, who hit his one-year mark in the White House on Monday, had been expected to step aside as early as this summer. But President Donald Trump, who asked Kelly to stay on, has …

From a Politico article on the “futility” of John Kelly’s job: With the president working around his own chief, keeping Trump on task has proved a challenge. Trump now adds to his daily schedule in a black appointment book, jotting down meetings he schedules the day of with the help of his personal aide, Madeline Westerhout. A White House spokeswoman …

The Washington Post reports: President Trump kicked off his trip to Europe with a biting critique of the United States’ longtime allies, declaring at a breakfast meeting that Germany “is captive to Russia.” Next to him, three of his senior officials seemed uncomfortable at times, pursing their lips and glancing away from the table. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg remains …

Politico reports: Kelly’s status in the White House has changed in recent months, and he and the president are now seen as barely tolerating one another. According to four people close to Kelly, the former Marine general has largely yielded his role as the enforcer in the West Wing as his relationship with Trump has soured. While Kelly himself once …

The New York Times reports: President Trump has gone overseas to embark on some of the most consequential diplomatic negotiations of his tenure, threatening an all-out trade war with allies and seizing a chance to make peace with a nuclear-armed menace. But back home, he left behind a West Wing where burned-out aides are eyeing the exits, as the mood …

PBS NewsHour reports: The White House says President Donald Trump’s Chief of Staff John Kelly plans to “immediately set up a meeting” with congressional leaders and the FBI, Justice Department and Director of National Intelligence to review “highly classified and other information they have requested” related to the Russia investigation. Rep. Devin Nunes, an ardent Trump supporter and head of …

Politico reports: President Donald Trump’s frustration with Kirstjen Nielsen, which boiled over Wednesday in a Cabinet meeting tirade, has been growing for weeks — stoked by associates who have privately made the case that she’s a closeted “never Trumper” who still doesn’t fully back his agenda. Trump’s advisers have been increasingly criticizing the Homeland Security chief in private conversations with …

Howard Kurtz writes for Fox News: There are growing whispers that if John Kelly is eased out or bails out as White House chief of staff, the job could go to Corey Lewandowski. I can report, based on my sources, that the president and his first campaign manager have discussed that possibility. Lewandowski has said he would accept a White …

This one should be fun: White House press secretary Sarah Sanders will take reporters’ questions starting at 2:30 p.m. ET. This is the first White House briefing since the correspondents’ dinner, where Michelle Wolf delivered a controversial set. Trump’s upcoming meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, the President’s attacks on the Russia probe and other topics could come up. …

Via Mediaite: President Trump, likely in response to the new reporting about John Kelly calling him an “idiot,” went off on the “Fake News” yet again tonight. NBC News reported earlier today that Kelly has called the President an “idiot” on multiple occasions. And perhaps Trump was watching CNN’s reporting tonight before tweeting, for that network reported Kelly used the …

NBC News reports: White House chief of staff John Kelly has eroded morale in the West Wing in recent months with comments to aides that include insulting the president’s intelligence and casting himself as the savior of the country, according to eight current and former White House officials. The officials said Kelly portrays himself to Trump administration aides as the …

Three tweets already this morning but nothing about the man who died yesterday in his “well built building.” From the Post story that has him raging: After White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly pressured President Trump last fall to install his top deputy, Kirstjen Nielsen, atop the Department of Homeland Security, the president lost his temper when conservative …

Talking Points Memo reports: A trove of e-mails obtained by House Democrats reveal efforts by top State Department officials — working hand in hand with the White House, outside conservatives and right-wing media — to sideline and demote career civil servants who are seen as disloyal to President Trump. The report on the emails set off alarm bells across Washington, …

Mediaite reports: You aren’t alone if you’re having trouble keeping track of all that happened this week in Washington. At the top of this afternoon’s The Lead, CNN’s Jake Tapper valiantly attempted to recap this week’s big news while issuing a disclaimer that something else may break within the hour to overtake an already overstuffed news cycle. “Chaos has been …

NBC News reports: The White House is preparing to replace H.R. McMaster as national security adviser as early as next month in a move orchestrated by chief of staff John Kelly and Defense Secretary James Mattis, according to five people familiar with the discussions. The move would be the latest in a long string of staff shakeups at the White …

Axios reports: The Trump family — and the president’s oldest son, Don Jr., in particular — was angry about the overwhelmingly negative TV coverage about Jared Kushner last night, and feels White House Chief of Staff Kelly is hanging Jared out to dry, a source familiar with the situation tells Axios. Why it matters: Over the past few weeks I’ve …

Politico reports: Presidential son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner has had his security clearance downgraded — a move that will prevent him from viewing many of the sensitive documents to which he once had unfettered access. Kushner is not alone. All White House aides working on the highest-level interim clearances — at the Top Secret/SCI-level — were informed in a memo …

Reuters reports: Longstanding friction between U.S. President Donald Trump and two top aides, the National Security Adviser and the Chief of Staff, has grown to a point that either or both might quit soon, four senior administration officials said. Both H.R. McMaster and John Kelly are military men considered by U.S. political observers as moderating influences on the president by …

The New York Times reports: Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, is resisting giving up his access to highly classified information, prompting an internal struggle with John F. Kelly, the White House chief of staff, over who should be allowed to see some of the nation’s most sensitive secrets, according to White House officials and others briefed on …

The Washington Post reports: White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly announced Friday that beginning next week, the White House will no longer allow some employees with interim security clearances access to top-­secret information — a move that could threaten the standing of Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law. Kushner, a senior adviser to the president, has been able to …