Trump backs Kelly, who is doing a ‘fantastic job’
President Trump on Tuesday gave a vote of confidence to White House chief of staff John Kelly, who has come under fire for his handling of government shutdown talks.
“Thank you to General John Kelly, who is doing a fantastic job, and all of the Staff and others in the White House, for a job well done,” Trump tweeted.
“Long hours and Fake reporting makes your job more difficult, but it is always great to WIN, and few have won more than us!” he added.
{mosads}
Trump’s comments came one day after Vanity Fair published a piece stating that his relationship with Kelly “may finally have gone past the point of no return” and that the president’s daughter, Ivanka, is helping search for a replacement.
The president endorsed Kelly while taking a victory lap after signing a stopgap spending bill to reopen the government.
The retired Marine Corps general has faced mounting criticism from members of Congress for his role in the contentious talks.
Democrats, and some Republicans, say he shares blame for scuttling a bipartisan deal that would have offered legal protections for young immigrants living illegally in the U.S. in exchange for billions of dollars in border-security measures.
Kelly also angered the president when he reportedly told a group of Hispanic lawmakers that Trump’s campaign promise to build a wall the entire length of the U.S.-Mexico border was “uninformed.”
The chief of staff repeated his remarks during an interview last week on Fox News, in which he took credit for helping Trump evolve on the issue of immigration.
“Campaigning and governing are two different things and this president has been very, very flexible in terms of what is within the realm of the possible,” Kelly said.
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