Sunday Talk Shows

Former Dem Rep rips Trump for inability to work with his own staff

Former Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) blasted President Trump for what he described as his failure to get along with members of his own staff.

“This is a man who can’t get along with a man he made secretary of State. He can’t get along with … his own attorney general. He fired his own chief of staff,” Frank told radio host John Catsimatidis on AM 970 in New York. “He’s a very hard man to get along with.”

Frank said the president’s difficulty in working with members of his own Cabinet would likely make it difficult to strike deals with Democrats on some of his most significant legislative proposals, notably his long-promised wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

{mosads}

Trump’s Cabinet has seen a significant amount of turnover in his first 15 months in the White House.

He ousted his first chief of staff, Reince Priebus, in July, before replacing him with then-Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly. 

Trump has also attacked Attorney General Jeff Sessions — one of his most vocal supporters on the campaign trail — for recusing himself from the law enforcement investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 presidential election.

And in March, Trump abruptly and unceremoniously fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson via Twitter, and simultaneously announced that he had tapped CIA Director Mike Pompeo to replace him.

More recently, Trump has also ousted his national security adviser and Veterans Affairs secretary, and speculation has swirled that he could soon dismiss Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who took on the responsibility of overseeing the Russia probe after Sessions’s recusal.