President Donald Trump (R) speaks to the press after the new White House Chief of Staff John Kelly (L) was sworn in, in the Oval Office of the White House, July 31, 2017 in Washington, DC.
- White House chief of staff John Kelly has reportedly denigrated President Donald Trump in private on multiple occassions, NBC News reported Monday.
- Kelly, who reportedly casts himself as a savior of the administration, has reportedly called Trump an "idiot."
- "He says stuff you can't believe," a senior White House official told NBC.
White House chief of staff John Kelly has reportedly denigrated President Donald Trump in private on multiple occassions, questioning the president's intelligence and casting himself as a savior of the administration - and the country, according to a Monday NBC News report.
Kelly has referred to Trump as an "idiot" multiple times, four officials who say they've witnessed the remarks told NBC.
"He doesn't even understand what DACA is. He's an idiot," Kelly said in a meeting, according to two officials in attendance. "We've got to save him from himself."
"He says stuff you can't believe," a senior White House official told NBC. "He'll say it and you think, 'That is not what you should be saying.'"
In perhaps the most controversial moment of his tenure as chief of staff, Kelly was heavily criticized for his role in a scandal surrounding former White House staff secretary Rob Porter, who resigned from his post after his two former wives publicly accused him of domestic abuse.
Kelly, who reportedly knew of issues with Porter's security clearance for months, released a statement praising the top staffer as "a man of true integrity and honor," even after the abuse allegations were published in the media. In another statement more than 24 hours later, Kelly said he was "shocked by the new allegations," but continued to defend Porter, who called the claims "a coordinated smear campaign."
The president, who lavished praise on Porter after the staffer's resignation, was reportedly privately furious with Kelly's handling of the situation. Kelly later said he mishandled his response to the allegations.
And current and former White House officials told NBC that Kelly has made occasional remarks that have disturbed female staffers, including commenting that women are more emotional than men - a claim he made in front of the president, four sources said.