Former White House chief of staff John Kelly said Wednesday that President Donald Trump is wrong on the issues of immigration and building a border wall.
Appearing at Duke University Wednesday evening, Kelly, who also served as Secretary of Homeland Security before becoming chief of staff, was asked if he thought it wise to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, which Trump has declared to be a national emergency. Kelly replied:
“We don’t need a wall from sea to shining sea.”
Kelly also slammed Trump for alleging that many of the people seeking to enter the United States are criminals, noting:
“They’re overwhelmingly not criminals. They’re people coming up here for economic purposes. I don’t blame them for that.”
The issue of security clearances also came up, NBC News reports:
“Kelly … did not deny reports that President Donald Trump circumvented the usual process to grant the security clearances or that he later wrote a memo outlining his concerns about it. He simply said he believes any such conversations with the president would be privileged and that he’s not at liberty to discuss security clearances.”
Serving as chief of staff for Trump, Kelly said, was “the least enjoyable job I’ve ever had.”
When the subject of the Muslim travel ban came up, Kelly remarked that it had been a mistake “made by inexperienced White House staff who didn’t run the policy through the usual process-gathering process for input from relevant government agencies.”
On defense policy — specifically Trump’s decision to withdraw all U.S. forces from Syria — Kelly also said he disagreed with the president. And he added that the NATO alliance is critical to U.S. security:
“Kelly also defended the cost of maintaining the NATO alliance, the merits of which Trump has repeatedly questioned. And he took credit for initially organizing a series of briefings that convinced Trump not to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan and Syria.”
Listening to what Kelly had to say Wednesday evening, it’s clear why Trump wanted him out of the administration. This president cannot stand for anyone to disagree with him or suggest he might be wrong.
Featured Image Via the BBC
