Ousted Chief of Staff John Kelly joined former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis in criticizing President Donald Trump on Friday, telling CNN “we need to look harder at who we elect.”
Kelly’s comment came in an interview with former White House spokesman Anthony Scaramucci, who asked the former Marine Corps general about Mattis’ rebuke of Trump in regards to his response to riots over the death of a Minneapolis man in police custody.
Mattis told The Atlantic in a June 3 article: "Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people — does not even pretend to try.”
Kelly echoed Mattis, another former Marine Corps general.
“I agree with him. I think we need to step back from the politics,” he said.
“I think we need to look harder at who we elect. I think we should start, all of us, regardless of what our views are in politics, I think we should look at people that are running for office and put them through the filter. What is their character like? What are their ethics?”
Both Kelly and Mattis were pushed out of the White House after clashes with Trump, with Mattis saying when he left, "If you leave an administration, you owe some silence."
But his criticism of Trump’s response to the riots that have followed the death of George Floyd in police custody on Memorial Day was his second public rebuke.
Mattis butted heads with Trump on several key policy issues, including Trump’s criticism of NATO and his decision to withdraw the U.S. military from Syria. That led to Mattis’ resignation in December 2018, a move Trump said he “essentially fired him.”
Kelly left at approximately the same time, with several outlets reporting at the time that Trump had made several major decisions without Kelly present.
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