Former General John Kelly, the outgoing White House Chief of Staff, is going out with a parting shot at former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, claiming that the policy that caused hundreds of immigrant children to be separated from their parents was Sessions’ idea.
“What happened was Jeff Sessions, he was the one that instituted the zero-tolerance process on the border that resulted in both people being detained and the family separation,” Kelly told the Los Angeles Times.
In May of this year, Sessions announced zero tolerance policies that led to the family separations. Kelly says that the move was unexpected by those in the White House
“What happened was Jeff Sessions, he was the one that instituted the zero-tolerance process on the border that resulted in both people being detained and the family separation,” said Kelly. “He surprised us.”
Kelly is departing a White House in chaos, as a government shutdown grinds on as the president tries blackmail to get an initial five billion dollars to find a wall across the 2000-plus mile southern border.
Kelly also spoke out in the Times over his disagreements with the President over the President’s longstanding campaign promise.
“To be honest, it’s not a wall,” said Kelly, who previously led Homeland Security before becoming Chief of Staff.
He elaborated, “The president still says ‘wall’ — oftentimes frankly he’ll say ‘barrier’ or ‘fencing,’ now he’s tended toward steel slats. But we left a solid concrete wall early on in the administration, when we asked people what they needed and where they needed it.”
Donald Trump referred to “the wall” as recently as yesterday, via Twitter.
Image via Wikimedia Commons
