Trump’s chief of staff Priebus quits
REPLACEMENT ANNOUNCED John Kelly named White House’s top official
US president Donald Trump announced his chief of staff Reince Priebus’s exit on Friday, a development that had long been anticipated, and named retired general John Kelly, currently serving as secretary of the department of homeland security, as his replacement.
“I am pleased to inform you that I have just named General/ Secretary John F Kelly as White House Chief of Staff. He is a Great American and a Great Leader,” Trump wrote in posts on Twitter. “John has also done a spectacular job at Homeland Security. He has been a true star of my Administration,” Trump tweeted.
Priebus told CNN he decided to leave because the president had wanted to go in a different direction, “reset” his presidency. He put in his papers on Thursday — he was not asked to resign — and Trump accepted.
Priebus’s departure comes just days after press secretary Sean Spice, a close ally, put in his papers following Trump’s decision to hire Anthony Scaramucci as his communications director.
Kelly is a retired Marin Corps general and Indian officials came to know him somewhat during his tenure at the department of homeland security.
National security adviser Ajit Doval and foreign secretary S Jaishankar met him separately during their respective visits to Washington.
And Kelly was a part of the US delegation for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s White House meetings with President Trump late June.
Priebus had never assimilated himself into the Trump team that came to Washington as outsiders to politics and flaunted it as an accomplishment.
The president wanted to go a different direction. A president has a right to hit a reset button. I think it’s a good time to hit the reset button. REINCE PRIEBUS , to CNN (John Kelly) is a Great American and a Great Leader... (and has) done a spectacular job at Homeland Security...a true star of my Administration. DONALD TRUMP, on Twitter