Former President Donald Trump has denounced his former chief of staff John Kelly for making despairing remarks about him, including a claim that the ex-president praised Nazi leader Adolf Hitler’s generals during his time in the White House.
Kelly, a retired U.S. Marine Corps general, claimed in remarks published by The Atlantic on Tuesday that he witnessed Trump express an admiration for “Hitler’s generals” while serving as president. Trump was also quoted as saying that wanted “the kind of generals that Hitler had” during a White House meeting.
In an interview published by The New York Times on the same day, Kelly said that he believed the former president is a “fascist” and a “dictatorial leader,” claiming that he saw Trump praise “the good things” Hitler did and confirming his past account of Trump calling U.S. soldiers killed or injured in action “losers and suckers.”
Trump weighed in on Kelly’s remarks in a post to Truth Social on Wednesday, claiming that his longest-serving White House chief of staff was a “lowlife” who simply “made up” his recollections while diagnosing him with “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
“Thank you for your support against a total degenerate named John Kelly, who made up a story out of pure Trump Derangement Syndrome Hatred!” Trump wrote. “This guy had two qualities, which don’t work well together. He was tough and dumb. The problem is his toughness morphed into weakness, because he became JELLO with time! The story about the Soldiers was A LIE, as are numerous other stories he told.”
“Even though I shouldn’t be wasting my time with him, I always feel it’s necessary to hit back in pursuit of THE TRUTH,” he added. “John Kelly is a LOWLIFE, and a bad General, whose advice in the White House I no longer sought, and told him to MOVE ON! His wife once told me, at Camp David, John admires you tremendously, and when he leaves the Military, he will only speak well of you.”
This is a developing news story and will be updated with more information.
Former President Donald Trump and former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly are pictured at the White House in Washington, D.C., on July 31, 2017. Trump called his former chief of staff a “lowlife” on Wednesday and claimed that Kelly “made up” claims that he praised Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
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