Former President Trump’s chief of staff John Kelly said a second term for the ex-president would result in a “nonstop gunfight” with Congress.
Kelly was Trump’s second chief of staff and came into the job hoping to instill discipline on the White House. He ended up lasting in the role for nearly a year and a half but had little success in ending the drama and infighting that characterized Trump’s administration.
“It would be chaotic,” Kelly said of what a second term might look like in a New York Times piece.
“It just simply would be chaotic, because he’d continually be trying to exceed his authority but the sycophants would go along with it. It would be a nonstop gunfight with the Congress and the courts.”
Since Trump left office, Kelly has offered sharp criticism of the former president, including reportedly saying Trump was the “most flawed person” he has ever met.
“The depths of his dishonesty is just astounding to me. The dishonesty, the transactional nature of every relationship, though it’s more pathetic than anything else. He is the most flawed person I have ever met in my life,” Kelly told friends, according to a report by CNN in 2020.
Kelly has also spoken about Trump’s ongoing legal battles, including the federal indictment against him where he pleaded not guilty to 37 counts of mishandling classified documents and attempting to keep them from the government.
“He’s scared s—less,” Kelly told The Washington Post. “This is the way he compensates for that. He gives people the appearance he doesn’t care by doing this.”
As Trump ramps up his 2024 campaign in hopes of returning to the White House, he is facing a slew of legal battles from New York City to Washington, D.C. to Florida.
He may be facing a second federal indictment in connection with the investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol. He also pleaded not guilty in April to 34 New York state criminal charges in connection with falsifying business records to cover up an alleged affair.
—Updated at 8:12 p.m.