John Kelly Named Trump Chief Of Staff; Priebus Resigns

The widely anticipated announcement followed a series of public attacks on Priebus this week from new White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci, who boarded Air Force One with Trump and Priebus for a Friday afternoon event in NY.

“I resigned and he accepted it”, Priebus said to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Friday, referring to President Donald Trump.

In a statement, Priebus said it had been one of the great honors of his life to serve Trump and the country.

Yet if the president has any hope of accomplishing policy objectives, and staving off a 2018 Democratic takeover of the House that could likely lead to impeachment proceedings against him, he has one thing to do.

With Kelly being named Chief of Staff, the President will have to find a replacement for the head of Homeland Security, which will need Senate confirmation.

Trump is calling Kelly “a true star” of the administration. The final go-ahead came during a meeting Thursday night in which Trump finalized that Kelly was his pick to replace Priebus, according to two people familiar with the discussion The president had considered others, including political operatives David Urban and Wayne Berman, for the job.

Congratulations to my friend General/Secretary John Kelly for being named @WhiteHouse Chief of Staff.

The New York Times reported in May that Trump had joked with Priebus, whose mother is of Greek descent, that he would make him the USA ambassador to Greece.

Priebus had initially tried to block Scaramucci from an earlier post in the White House.

Scaramucci in subsequent television interviews said he wasn’t sure if his spat with Priebus over leaks “is reparable or not, that will be up to the president”.

“He isn’t going anywhere”, one person close to Priebus said, even as some of Priebus’ allies have privately urged him to step aside rather than continue to bear the public indignity of being shamed by his colleagues.

U.S. Representative Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, is among those being considered for Homeland Security secretary, a DHS official said.

He’d better get some discipline, and get it fast. You know, the border is down 78 percent.

Reince Priebus did a good job as chief of staff.

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said in a statement “Reince Priebus is a good friend”.

“He has served the president and the American people capably and passionately”, Ryan said. She went on to add: “In a White House that has been rife with chaos and upheaval on what seems like a daily basis, Reince was a much-needed, clear-headed, experienced leader. I congratulate Secretary Kelly on his appointment, and look forward to working with him to advance our agenda”. But there were signs that Priebus was, at times, out of the loop, like when Trump made a decision to hire Scaramucci. Kelly, he said, will bring “unparalleled leadership skills to the job”.

He is known for his loyalty, particularly to those in the Corps, but also was seen as a devoted senior military adviser to Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, his second to last job in the U.S. Marine Corps, after serving multiple deployments in Iraq.