White House chief of staff John Kelly listens as US President Donald Trump speaks at a briefing with senior military leaders. Kelly has denied calling Trump an idiot. Photo / Getty
White House chief of staff John Kelly listens as US President Donald Trump speaks at a briefing with senior military leaders. Kelly has denied calling Trump an idiot. Photo / Getty
John Kelly, the White House chief of staff, has denied a report that he called Donald Trump an "idiot"
In a rare public statement Kelly called the report by NBC News "total BS".
The US network reported on Monday that Kelly has privately criticised the president's knowledge on issues includingimmigration.
According to the report Kelly had also cast himself as protecting the country from Trump's intentions.
In his statement Kelly said: "I spend more time with the president than anyone else and we have an incredibly candid and strong relationship.
NBC reported that Kelly used the word "idiot" with staff in his office during a meeting about the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) programme.
It protects the co-called Dreamers, illegal immigrants who were brought to the US as children.
According to NBC News the chief of staff felt Trump did not fully understand the issue and was planning to give ground to Democrats.
Kelly, a former Marine Corps general, was reported to have said: "He doesn't even understand what Daca is. He's an idiot. We've got to save him from himself."
A series of White House officials denied the report.
Meanwhile, CNN reported that Kelly last month said the president was "becoming unhinged'.
John Kelly told sr national security officials last month that he believed the President was becoming "unhinged," a senior admin official tells me. Kelly made the comments in a room w/ Mattis, Dunford & NSC officials after Trump said publicly he wanted to pull troops from Syria.
An admin official confirms Kelly sometimes used "salty" language when talking about Trump after the president clashed with the COS over who would become DHS Sec.
