President Trump confirmed that John Kelly, President Trump’s second Chief of Staff in as many years, will be out by the end of 2018.
“John Kelly will be leaving. I don’t know if I can say retiring. He’s a great guy. John Kelly will be leaving at the end of the year. We’ll be announcing who will take John’s place. It might be on an interim basis. I’ll be announcing that over the next day or two,” President Trump said from the White House lawn on Saturday.
John Kelly replaced Reince Priebus, who served for roughly seven months at the Chief of Staff. He had previously been the chairman of the Republican National Committee.
A retired United States Marine Corps General, Jelly initially served Trump as Secretary of Homeland Security before taking the position of Chief of Staff in a bid to reduce the sense of “chaos” in the White House.
Kelly is also widely considered to have been a stabilizing presence, allowing some of the more radical actions of the President to go forward.
Nevertheless, Kelly’s time as Chief of Staff has not been an easy one, with him facing regular clashes with the President and his family. Kelly himself has faced numerous controversies, including questions over the way he handled the termination of former White House staffer Omarosa Manigault-Newman, and his part in attacks against the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
It was also reported in recent days that John Kelly was interviewed by Robert Mueller’s team as part of their continuing investigation into Russian interference into the 2016 election.
Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr and a CC license