United States: former Donald Trump chief of staff, John Kelly, gets loose on his policy

Text by: RFI Follow

During a conference in front of students on Wednesday 12 February, John Kelly, who was the "chief of staff" or secretary general of the White House until January 2019, made a formal criticism of the policy by Donald Trump both on his foreign policy and his speech against migrants and on his impeachment trial, whose key witness was then thanked by the presidency.

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With our correspondent in San Francisco, Eric de Salve

He was the key man in the White House , Donald Trump's right-hand man, until his departure in January 2019. A year later, John Kelly decides to let go of students from New Jersey and lists disagreements with Donald Trump, according to The Atlantic magazine .

The highly respected General Kelly first denounces the dismissal of Colonel Vindman by the White House after his testimony in the impeachment trial against Donald Trump: " He did exactly what we teach [to the recruits, editor's note] , he tell his boss what he heard, "said John Kelly. This is about the report by Alexander Vindman after listening to the phone call in which Donald Trump asked the President of Ukraine to investigate his Democratic rival Joe Biden. Either the call at the origin of the impeachment .

But the former “ chief of staff ” of the White House does not stop there and also denounces the failure of the policy of Donald Trump, who was reaching out to North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, whom he met three times. “ It didn't work, Kim played with us. He will never give up his nuclear weapons, "says John Kelly.

Finally, the general contested the usefulness of an anti-immigration wall on the Mexican border and denounced the rhetoric of the president. According to him, the migrants " are overwhelmingly good people, not all rapists or murderers, it is not correct to call them that," said the man who had supported Donald Trump's policy.

The president's vengeful reaction on Twitter: “ Chef de cabinet was not a job for him. He doesn't have the rhythm, he can't stay silent ”.

When I terminated John Kelly, which I couldn't do fast enough, he knew full well that he was way over his head. Being Chief of Staff just wasn't for him. He came in with a bang, went out with a whimper, but like so many X's, he misses the action & just can't keep his mouth shut ,.

The criticism did not come only from its former staff. The president also suffered from one of his most loyal: his Minister of Justice . In an interview, William Bar said that Donald Trump's tweets make his job " impossible ."

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