White House chief of staff John Kelly called President Trump “unhinged” and “an idiot” in conversations with aides recounted in Bob Woodward’s new book, which was obtained by The Washington Post on Tuesday.
Kelly reportedly lashed out at Trump and said during a small group meeting that it was “pointless” to advise Trump on anything.
“He’s an idiot. It’s pointless to try to convince him of anything. He’s gone off the rails. We’re in Crazytown. I don’t even know why any of us are here,” Kelly said, Woodward writes.
{mosads} “This is the worst job I’ve ever had,” Kelly continued, the veteran journalist added.
Kelly denied the report that he called the president an “idiot.”
“The idea I ever called the president an idiot is not true,” Kelly said in a statement on Tuesday. “This is another pathetic attempt to smear people close to President Trump and distract from the administration’s many successes.”
The book claims that Kelly threatened to quit several times and recounts a conversation he had with then-National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn after he attempted to deliver a resignation letter to Trump in the summer of 2017.
It was reported in August 2017 that Cohn drafted a resignation letter in response to Trump’s controversial comments after violence at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va.
The president reportedly convinced Cohn to stay in his position and said his threatened resignation was “treason.”
Kelly reportedly shared Cohn’s outrage over Trump’s handling of Charlottesville.
“I would have taken that resignation letter and shoved it up his ass six different times,” Kelly told Cohn, according to Woodward.
Kelly, who was the Homeland Security secretary prior to his appointment to the White House, was brought into the West Wing to replace ousted chief of staff Reince Priebus.
Kelly’s departure from the White House has been rumored since June, when he marked his one-year anniversary in the position.
But it is unclear if his departure is imminent and whom Trump might pick to replace him.
Woodward, a veteran journalist known for his reporting on the Nixon-era Watergate scandal as well as a series of tell-all books on past administrations led by presidents of both parties, is releasing his new book on Sept. 11.
“Fear: Trump in the White House” reportedly offers a detailed account of the inner workings of the Trump administration.
Woodward’s account is based on “hundreds of hours of interviews with firsthand sources, meeting notes, personal diaries, files and documents.”
The book’s release date comes less than two months before the midterm elections.
-Updated 3:10 p.m.