President Donald Trump’s management style with his Cabinet and top aides is “not the way I would deal with people,” former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates says.
In an interview aired Sunday on CBS News’ “Face The Nation,” Gates was asked about the “churn” of multiple personnel changes in the Trump administration, particularly a report that Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen considered resigning after Trump berated her at a Cabinet meeting.
“That's not the way I would deal with people,” Gates responded. “That's not the way I think I ever did deal with people, and I did fire people — very senior people.”
"But, you know, every president is going to have his own style — the way he deals with people. And, as I say, it's not the way I’d do it but that's the way he does it."
"Different presidents deal with the people that work with them in different ways," Gates continued. "The first president I worked for, Lyndon Johnson, did a lot of yelling and swearing at — at his senior officials. In his own way, so did — so did Richard Nixon."
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