Before serving as Trump’s chief of staff, Kelly worked as the former president’s Secretary of Homeland Security for seven months.
The relationship between Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and John Kelly, his former White House chief of staff, is back in the spotlight.
On Tuesday, The Atlantic published an article alleging that while serving as president, Trump once told Kelly: «I need the kind of generals that Hitler had. People who were totally loyal to him, that follow orders.»
The account was attributed to «two people who heard him say this» and cited Kelly, Trump’s White House chief of staff from 2017 to 2019, who said the then-president expressed admiration for the loyalty of «Hitler’s generals.»
In a statement sent to Newsweek on Tuesday, Trump campaign adviser Alex Pfeiffer said: «This is absolutely false. President Trump never said this.»
In a post Truth Social post last year, Trump called Kelly «the dumbest of my Military people», adding that Kelly was «incapable of doing a good job, it was too much for him, and I couldn’t stand the guy, so I fired him like a ‘dog.'»
Amid the controversy related to Trump’s reported remarks, some Trump supporters have resurfaced those claims on social media this week.When Was General John F. Kelly Appointed?
Kelly became the White House chief of staff on July 31, 2017, after his predecessor, Reince Priebus, resigned. This appointment aimed to bring more discipline and order to the White House, as Kelly had a reputation for being a strict and organized leader.John Kelly and Donald Trump’s Relationship Explained
Kelly retired from the Marine Corps in January 2016 after more than 45 years of service. His last active-duty role was as the commander of U.S. Southern Command. At the time of his retirement, Kelly held the rank of General.
Before serving as Trump’s chief of staff, Kelly worked as the former president’s Secretary of Homeland Security for seven months, beginning in January 2017. In that role, he oversaw Trump’s efforts to construct a wall along the United States-Mexico border and was a key figure in the administration’s crackdown on immigration policy.
Kelly joked in 2018 that he wanted to keep his job running the Department of Homeland Security, but «God punished me» with a West Wing office.
