Trump says John Kelly will leave at years end
463 views · Published 13 December 2018 · 1:42 · Indexed 2 October 2026
Channel: AP Archive · 2018 · News & Politics
(8 Dec 2018) President Donald Trump said Saturday that chief of staff John Kelly will leave his job by year's end amid an expected West Wing reshuffling reflecting a focus on the 2020 re-election campaign and the challenge of governing with Democrats reclaiming control of the House. Nick Ayers, Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff, is Trump's top choice to replace Kelly, and the two have held discussions for months about the job, a White House official said. An announcement was expected in the coming days, the president told reporters as he left the White House for the Army-Navy football game in Philadelphia. Kelly had been credited with imposing order on a chaotic West Wing after his arrival in June 2017 from his post as homeland security secretary. But his iron first also alienated some longtime Trump allies, and he grew increasingly isolated, with an increasingly diminished role. Known through the West Wing as "the chief" or "the general," the retired Marine Corps four-star general was tapped by Trump via tweet in July 2017 from his perch atop the Homeland Security Department to try to normalize a White House riven by infighting and competing power bases. "John Kelly will leaving — I don't know if I can say retiring — but he's a great guy," Trump said. "John Kelly will be leaving at the end of the year. We'll be announcing who will be taking John's place — it might be on an interim basis. I'll be announcing that over the next day or two, but John will be leaving at the end of the year. ... I appreciate his service very much." Trump told reporters he's tapping Gen. Mark Milley as his next top military adviser. Milley is a battle-hardened commander who has served as chief of the Army for the last three years. If confirmed by the Senate, Milley would succeed Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The president also responded to questions about the court filings from prosecutors in New York and special counsel Robert Mueller's office Friday that laid out previously undisclosed contacts between Trump associates and Russian intermediaries. The filings, in cases involving Cohen and former campaign chairman Paul Manafort , capped a dramatic week of revelations in Mueller's probe into possible coordination between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. Trump said "we're very happy with what we are reading because there was no collusion whatsoever. There never has been. The last thing I want is help from Russia on a campaign." Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/d0c9772ee84c5f5ba01540b9414995ef
