White House chief of staff John Kelly and former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski in February got into a physical altercation outside of the Oval Office and had to be separated by Secret Service agents, The New York Times reports.
Kelly has been in several brush ups with aides since Trump brought him on last July, and last week got into a heated argument with National Security Adviser John Bolton over immigration and border crossings, including the performance of the Homeland Security Department under Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.
Last year, he got into a physical altercation with a Chinese official during Trump's visit to Beijing and reportedly refused to accept an apology unless a senior Chinese official came to Washington and apologized under a U.S. flag in Washington, per The Wall Street Journal.
The altercation between Kelly and Lewandowski was the ugliest that occurred in the West Wing, per the Times. It happened when families of the victims injured in the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School were walking into the White House for an event with Trump in the East Room.
Kelly had slammed Lewandowski, telling Trump he was profiting off the president in the form of his contract with the super PAC supporting the president's re-election, and also said the aide had been criticizing him on TV for the way he handled the security clearance controversy related to Rob Porter.
Trump took a call, both men left the room, and Kelly, as he walked toward his office, called on someone to remove Lewandowski from the building. The two argued, and Kelly eventually grabbed Lewandowski by his collar and tried to push him up against the wall.
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