President Donald Trump's Chief of Staff John Kelly addressed reporters Thursday and denied rumors that he would be leaving the White House.
"I don't think I'm being fired today and I am not so frustrated in this job that I'm thinking of leaving," Kelly joked.
Kelly, a former general, was hired to reign in Trump's freewheeling White House, and quickly made his mark, pushing out aides Steve Bannon and Anthony Scaramucci. However, recent reports spoke of a split between Kelly and Trump, and said that Kelly would soon depart the White House.
Kelly told reporters that he was happy with his job and had no plans on leaving. "No, I'm not frustrated," he said in response to a question. "My only frustration is when I come to work in the morning and I read about things that I allegedly said or think that Mr. Trump allegedly said or people who are going to be fired and it's just not true. I mean no disrespect to you all."
Kelly told reporters that their alleged false reporting irritated Trump, and urged them to "develop better sources. One of his frustrations is you, all of you, not all of you, but many of you," Kelly said.
"I am a reasonable guy, but when I watch TV in the morning, it is astounding to me about how much is misreported. I will give you the benefit of the doubt that you are operating off of contacts, leaks, whatever you call them, but I would just offer to you the advice, I would say, maybe develop some better sources. Some person that works way down inside an office, well, develop some better sources."
Kelly also denied that he was failing at his job due to his inability to control the President's prolific tweeting. "You know, it’s funny — I read in the paper — well, you all know, you write it — that I’ve been a failure at controlling the President, or a failure at controlling his tweeting, and all that. Again, I was not sent in — or I was not brought to this job to control anything but the flow of information to our President so that he can make the best decisions," said Kelly.
Kelly continued to say that, "I have found that Mr. Trump, from the day I met him, does not — he’s a decisive guy. He’s a very thoughtful man, I should say. He takes information in from every avenue he can receive it. I restrict no one, by the way, from going in to see him. But when we go in to see him now, rather than onesies and twosies, we go in and help him collectively understand what he needs to understand to makes these vital decisions."
"So again, I was not sent in to — or brought in to control him, and you should not measure my effectiveness as a Chief of Staff by what you think I should be doing. But simply, the fact is, I can guarantee to you that he is now presented with options, well thought-out options. Those options are discussed in detail with his team, and then he comes up with the right decision."
(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)