White House chief of staff John Kelly: “Unless things change, I’m not quitting. I’m not getting fired” https://t.co/1DdntYsl43
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) October 12, 2017
Since moving over from the Department of Homeland Security to become the White House Chief of Staff, John Kelly has kept out of the spotlight (while showing up plenty in anonymously sourced reports, which has led President Trump to deny that Kelly’s quitting or being fired) and tried to bring a sense of order to operations. In a rare — and surprisingly snazzy — turn of events, Kelly took questions from reporters at the daily press briefing and touched on a number of topics like Iran, border security, and the president’s tweets.
Kelly also addressed the rumors that he was always on the verge of resigning in frustration or being fired:
“Although I read it all the time, pretty consistently, I’m not quitting today … I don’t believe — and I just talked to the president — I don’t think I’m being fired today. And I’m not so frustrated in this job that I’m thinking of leaving.”
These remarks followed President Trump tweeting praise for his Chief of Staff while adding that it’s “fake news” that Kelly was going to be fired. Kelly went on to say that his only real frustration is when he reads news reports about White House rumors, but the job is still rewarding to him.
“This is really, really hard work — running the United States of America,” he said. “I don’t run it, but I’m working for someone who is dedicated to serving the country in the way he talked about for a number of years.”
Also, this definitely happened.