Former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly said on Saturday that he regrets quitting because President Trump likely would not be facing impeachment if he was still on the job.
Kelly, 69, told a political conference in Georgia on Saturday that he warned the President against hiring a ‘yes man’ to take his place as chief of staff – an implicit criticism of his successor, Mick Mulvaney.
If Trump failed to follow Kelly’s advice, he would be impeached, the retired four-star Marine general claims to have told the President.
‘I said, whatever you do – and we were still in the process of trying to find someone to take my place – I said whatever you do, don’t hire a ‘yes man,’ someone who won’t tell you the truth – don’t do that,’ Kelly told the Washington Examiner.
‘Because if you do, I believe you will be impeached.’
Former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly (seen left with President Trump in Arlington, Virginia, on May 29, 2017) says he regrets resigning last year due to the ongoing impeachment inquiry
Kelly continued: ‘That was almost 11 months ago, and I have an awful lot of, to say the least, second thoughts about leaving.
‘It pains me to see what’s going on because I believe if I was still there or someone like me was there, he would not be kind of, all over the place.’
It appears inevitable that Trump will be impeached by the House of Representatives, which is expected to hold a vote by Christmas.
That vote would then trigger a trial in the Senate. At least 67 senators would need to vote to convict for Trump to be removed from office.
With Republicans having a majority in the upper chamber, Trump’s removal from office appears to be unlikely.
Kelly was named by Trump to be homeland security secretary shortly after the President was inaugurated.
Trump then asked Kelly to replace Reince Priebus as White House chief of staff.
Kelly lasted less than 18 months before he was replaced by Mulvaney, who has been in an acting capacity since taking over.
Kelly did not endorse the impeachment inquiry against Trump. Still, he blames White House aides for playing a part in the crisis.
Kelly said he warned Trump not to replace him with a ‘yes man’ – an implicit criticism of Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney (seen above at the White House on Monday)
‘Someone has got to be a guide that tells [the president] that you either have the authority or you don’t, or Mr. President, don’t do it,’ Kelly said.
‘Don’t hire someone that will just nod and say, ‘That’s a great idea Mr. President.’
‘Because you will be impeached.’
Kelly added: ‘The system that should be in place, clearly – the system of advising, bringing in experts in, having these discussions with the president so he can make an informed decision, that clearly is not in place.
‘And I feel bad that I left.’
The Democratic-led impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump resumed on Saturday with testimony from a senior State Department official, a day after a federal judge buoyed the probe by dismissing Republican claims that it was illegitimate.
Philip Reeker, acting assistant secretary of state for Europe, arrives to the Capitol for closed door interview at the Capitol in Washington DC on Saturday
Philip Reeker, the acting assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, met with the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs, Intelligence and Oversight committees behind closed doors at the U.S. Capitol.
Democrats claimed victory after a federal district court judge on Friday rejected a claim by Trump and his Republican allies that the process was illegitimate because the full House had not voted to authorize it.
The judge ordered the Trump administration to give the House Judiciary Committee secret material from former special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election.
At the heart of the inquiry is a July 25 phone call in which Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, a leading Democratic contender to face Trump in the 2020 election, and his son Hunter, who had been a director of a Ukrainian energy company.
Rep. Adam Schiff, Chairman of the House Select Committee on Intelligence Committee returns to a closed session where Reeker was expected to appear on Saturday
The Trump administration was withholding $391million in security assistance for Ukraine at the time, and investigators are looking into whether Trump improperly tied the release of the aid to getting Ukraine’s help in probing the Bidens.
William Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, testified on Tuesday that Trump made the aid contingent on Zelenskiy announcing he would investigate the Bidens and a debunked conspiracy theory that Ukraine, not Russia, had meddled in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
U.S. election law prohibits candidates from accepting foreign help in an election.
Trump denies wrongdoing. And, backed by his fellow Republicans in Congress, insists he is being treated unfairly.