A source close to President Donald Trump warned that chief of staff John Kelly may have overstepped his authority and angered the chief executive.
Kelly spoke Wednesday night to Fox News anchor Bret Baier, who he told that Trump may not be able to deliver the border wall he promised during the campaign — a position he described as “uninformed.”
The source told Axios that Trump would explode when he saw the interview, which Fox News aired again in excerpts Thursday morning — and the president lashed out at his chief of staff on Twitter.
The person, who has spent a lot of time with Trump, predicted the president would be angry because Kelly looked like a mature professional who had to walk the chief executive through the basics of border security.
“Kelly has finally ventured into Steve Bannon territory when it comes to trying to create the perception that he’s the ‘great manipulator,’ saving the country from Trump’s ignorance,” the source told Axios. “The difference is, Steve tried to develop that reputation in off-the-record conversations with reporters. Kelly did it openly on the country’s most-watched cable network. It’s the subtle difference between hubris and arrogance.”
Bannon lasted as White House chief strategist until August, not long after Kelly took over as chief of staff, and he appeared to blow up his relationship with the president after serving as a source for Michael Wolff’s book Fire and Fury.
Wolff reports, however, that Trump chafed at magazine covers and comedians referring to his chief strategist as “President Bannon.”
