Tag: John Kelly

Trump pushes back on chief of staff claims that border wall pledges ‘uninformed’

The following article by Ed O’Keefe was posted on the Washington Post website January 18, 2018:

White House Chief of Staff John Kelly arrives at the Capitol on Wednesday for a meeting with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. (Susan Walsh/AP)

White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly told Democratic lawmakers Wednesday that some of the hard-line immigration policies President Trump advocated during the campaign were “uninformed,” that the United States will never construct a wall along its entire southern border and that Mexico will never pay for it, according to people familiar with the meeting.

The comments were out of sync with remarks by Trump, who in recent days has reiterated his desire to build a border wall that would be funded by Mexico “indirectly through NAFTA.”

Trump amplified this stance Thursday in back-to-back tweets that called the North American Free Trade Agreement “a bad joke” and asserted that reworked trade deals with Mexico would somehow pay for the wall “directly or indirectly.” Continue reading “Trump pushes back on chief of staff claims that border wall pledges ‘uninformed’”

Trump World frustrated, angry over new book

The following article by Jordan Fabian was posted on the Hill website January 5, 2018:

Allies of President Trump are aghast at the damage caused by a new book that paints a picture of a chaotic, dysfunctional and incompetent early months of the Trump administration.

Current and former Trump aides believe many of the juiciest stories in “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House” are exaggerated or wholly fictional and don’t think the book is resonating outside the Beltway among the president’s core supporters.

But they are shocked that the author, Michael Wolff, was given access to the White House for months to work on the project and stunned at the seemingly low regard some staffers have for the president as described in the book. Continue reading “Trump World frustrated, angry over new book”

White House Chief Of Staff Discussed Departure Of Ivanka And Jared

The following article by Chris Riotta with Newsweek was posted on the National Memo website November 25, 2017:

Donald Trump’s White House may no longer be a family-run business in the years ahead, if Chief of Staff John Kelly’s conversations with the president’s advisers reflect a possible foreshadowing of departures among the first family.

The former secretary of national security—now tasked with heading Trump’s day-to-day operations in the West Wing—has discussed the possibility of Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump bowing out of the administration by 2018, the New York Times’ Maggie Haberman, Peter Baker and Sharon LaFraniere reported Saturday. The developments follow similar reports indicating Trump himself has questioned whether the first daughter and her husband should remain in the White House amid negative press surrounding their involvement in his administration. Continue reading “White House Chief Of Staff Discussed Departure Of Ivanka And Jared”

White House chief of staff tried to pressure acting DHS secretary to expel thousands of Hondurans, officials say

The following article by Nick Miroff was posted on the Washington Post website November 9, 2017:

Elaine Duke, the acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, meets with Britain’s home secretary on Oct. 20. Duke refused to bow to pressure from White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly to expel tens of thousands of Hondurans living in the United States under protected status, officials said. (Andreas Solaro/AFP/Getty Images)

On Monday, as the Department of Homeland Security prepared to extend the residency permits of tens of thousands of Hondurans living in the United States, White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly called acting secretary Elaine Duke to pressure her to expel them, according to current and former administration officials.

Duke refused to reverse her decision and was angered by what she felt was a politically driven intrusion by Kelly and Tom Bossert, the White House homeland security adviser, who also called her about the matter, according to officials with knowledge of Monday’s events. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

“As with many issues, there were a variety of views inside the administration on a policy. The Acting Secretary took those views and advice on the path forward for TPS and made her decision based on the law,” DHS spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said in a statement, referring to a form of provisional residency called temporary protected status. He added that it was also “perfectly normal for them to discuss the issue before she had reached a decision.” Continue reading “White House chief of staff tried to pressure acting DHS secretary to expel thousands of Hondurans, officials say”

Historians respond to John F. Kelly’s Civil War remarks: ‘Strange,’ ‘sad,’ ‘wrong’

The following article by Philip Bump was posted on the Washington Post website October 31, 2017:

White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly called Robert E. Lee “an honorable man” and said that “the lack of an ability to compromise” led to the Civil War (Thomas Johnson/The Washington Post)

White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly was the guest for the premiere of Laura Ingraham’s new show on Fox News Channel on Monday night. During the interview, he outlined a view of the history of the Civil War that historians described as “strange,” “highly provocative,” “dangerous” and “kind of depressing.”

Kelly was asked about the decision of a church in Alexandria, Va., to remove plaques honoring George Washington and Robert E. Lee. Continue reading “Historians respond to John F. Kelly’s Civil War remarks: ‘Strange,’ ‘sad,’ ‘wrong’”

John Kelly refuses to apologize for false attacks on Florida congresswoman

The following article by Philip Rucker was posted on the Washington Post website October 30, 2017:

White House chief of staff John F. Kelly speaks at the White House media briefing on Oct. 19. (Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly said Monday he would not apologize for the false attacks he leveled against Rep. Frederica S. Wilson (D-Fla.) this month when he sought to defend President Trump for his handling of a condolence call to the widow of a fallen soldier.

On Oct. 19, in a rare appearance at the White House media briefing, Kelly attacked Wilson as an “empty barrel” and accused her of grandstanding at a public event two years ago in Florida by taking credit for securing federal funding for a new building.

Video of the event soon released by the Florida Sun Sentinel showed Wilson did no such thing. Rather, she used her speech to praise the two slain FBI agents in whose memory the building was named. Wilson accused Kelly of “character assassination,” and members of the Congressional Black Caucus demanded that Kelly apologize. Continue reading “John Kelly refuses to apologize for false attacks on Florida congresswoman”

John Kelly calls Robert E. Lee an ‘honorable man’ and says ‘lack of compromise’ caused the Civil War

The following article by Eli Rosenberg and Cleve R. Wootson, Jr. was posted on the Washington Post website October 31, 2017:

White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly called Robert E. Lee “an honorable man” and said that “the lack of an ability to compromise” led to the Civil War (Thomas Johnson/The Washington Post)

White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly on Monday called Robert E. Lee “an honorable man” and said that “the lack of an ability to compromise” led to the Civil War, once again thrusting himself into the public spotlight on an emotionally charged issue.

The comments, made on the debut night of conservative media host Laura Ingraham’s show on Fox News, came after Kelly was asked about the recent decision by a Virginia church to remove plaques that honored the Confederate general and George Washington. Continue reading “John Kelly calls Robert E. Lee an ‘honorable man’ and says ‘lack of compromise’ caused the Civil War”

Trump and Kelly Have a Problem With Women of Color Who Don’t Know Their Place

The following article by Kali Holloway was posted on the AlterNet website October 23, 2017:

Credit: Screenshot / CNN

Racism is the Trump administration’s magic wand, a device it uses, to great effect, to dazzle its base, whose own proud bigotry dispenses with the need for suspension of disbelief. In the face of controversies and criticism, Trump race-baits not just for cynical political reasons—though that’s part of it—but because he, too, is deeply racist, so much that his presidency is basically a live-action revenge fantasy against the country’s first black president.

Florida Congresswoman Frederica Wilson is the most recent target of the noxious output produced when Trump’s racism meets his unvarnished misogyny, revealing the particular contempt he holds for women of color, especially those powerful and uppity enough to publicly call him on his many failures. And if there was any question about whether Chief of Staff John Kelly endorses Trump’s targeting of women of color, recent events show this an all-hands-on-deck team effort. Continue reading “Trump and Kelly Have a Problem With Women of Color Who Don’t Know Their Place”

After Video Refutes Kelly’s Charges, Congresswoman Raises Issue of Race

The following article by Yamiche Alcindor and Michael D. Shear was posted on the New York Times website October 20, 2017:

Credit: Andrew Harnik/Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Video of a 2015 speech delivered by Representative Frederica S. Wilson revealed Friday that John F. Kelly, the White House chief of staff, misrepresented her remarks when he accused her of bragging about securing $20 million for a South Florida F.B.I. building and twisting President Barack Obama’s arm.

Mr. Kelly, escalating a feud between Mr. Trump and Ms. Wilson, had cast the congresswoman on Thursday as a publicity-seeking opportunist. However, the video, released by The Sun Sentinel, a newspaper in South Florida, showed that during her nine-minute speech, Ms. Wilson never took credit for getting the money for the building, only for helping pass legislation naming the building after two fallen federal agents. Continue reading “After Video Refutes Kelly’s Charges, Congresswoman Raises Issue of Race”

New White House Chief of Staff Has an Enforcer

The following article by Maggie Haberman and Glenn Thrush was posted on the New York Times website September 8, 2017:

John F. Kelly, President Trump’s chief of staff, has been trying to impose order at the White House. Credit Al Drago for The New York Times

Lost in the scramble to cope with Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, the response to North Korea’s nuclear provocations and the shock at President Trump’s instant alliance with Democrats was a little-noticed bureaucratic earthquake that shook the White House this week.

At a staff meeting on Wednesday, Mr. Trump’s new chief of staff, John F. Kelly, announced a number of seemingly quotidian internal moves, capped by the appointment of Kirstjen Nielsen — his brusque, no-nonsense longtime aide — as an assistant to the president and his principal deputy. Continue reading “New White House Chief of Staff Has an Enforcer”