Trump's chief of staff for 2 years says he agrees that Trump is bad for the country
"I agree with him," Kelly said of Mattis' essay on Friday.
Mattis had written on Friday that "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," "We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership." Mattis wrote that Trump makes a “mockery of the Constitution”.
- John Kelly, President Trump's longest serving chief of staff and a retired Marine Corps General, said Friday that he agrees with former Secretary of Defense James Mattis' assessment of Trump doing harm to the country.
- In an interview with former White House Press Secretary Anthony Scaramucci — whom Kelly promptly ousted in 2017 upon his promotion to chief of staff — Kelly said Mattis is right to raise the alarm about Trump sending in active duty troops to quash protests, and that every relationship with Trump "deteriorates over time."
- "The idea that you would unleash American active duty [troops] unless it's an extremist situation … These are civilian responsibilities," Kelly said.
Trump has been doing harm to this country for quite some time. That military brass is now waking up to it, finally, is good, I suppose. Better late than never. But what took you so long to see what most of us realized right from the get go?
"I would agree that [the constitution] is always being stressed when public officials ... are coming close to the edge of the rule of law," Kelly said, adding he agrees with former Secretary of Defense James Mattis' blistering assessment of Trump doing active harm to the country.
"I agree with him," Kelly said of Mattis' essay on Friday.