This has been building for months. There is no doubt that Donald Trump and his Chief of Staff John Kelly have had a rocky road. And there has been talk that Kelly’s days were numbered, but now it looks like the end of his tenure may be imminent. Axios reports:
West Wing officials widely believe that chief of staff John Kelly’s departure is imminent and that Nick Ayers, chief of staff to Vice President Pence, will replace him.
Seventeen months in, Kelly and President Donald Trump have reached a stalemate in their relationship and it is no longer seen as tenable by either party. Though Trump asked Kelly over the summer to stay on as chief of staff for two more years, the two have stopped speaking in recent days.
I am told this morning’s White House senior staff meeting, which would have been led by John Kelly, has been cancelled.
— Jonathan Karl (@jonkarl) December 7, 2018
There have been reports over the last couple of months that John Kelly has had shouting matches with national security adviser John Bolton and Trump’s former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski. And despite his relationship with the president clearly having been on thin ice for months, Trump made public statements indicating that Kelly would stay on until 2020.
If Kelly does resign — and things change! — the fact that he had agreed to stay on through 2020 will make it tough to argue this wasn't a sign of discordhttps://t.co/VwMnHO0e0u
— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) December 7, 2018
