Kelly To Vet Every News Article And Policy Paper Flying Across Trump’s Desk

President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly listen to the national anthem during commencement exercises at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn., Wednesday, May 17, 2017. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
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While retired Marine Corps Gen. John Kelly hasn’t been able to stop President Trump from being combative on Twitter and in public since assuming the role of chief of staff, he’s been making progress on controlling the information that Trump sees, Politico and Bloomberg News reported.

Kelly, along with White House staff secretary Rob Porter, now gets the final say on what news articles and policy memos cross Trump’s desk, according to a memo obtained by Politico that the two men circulated to Cabinet members this week.

The move is designed to present Trump with competing views on policy from different departments before he draws conclusions, Politico reported, likely forcing him to pause and consult multiple parties before pushing out executive orders like he did at the tumultuous start of his presidency.

Kelly is also working to control the President’s schedule by pushing deputy chiefs of staff to schedule events further in advance, as well as plan at least one public event per day and one travel event per week. Meetings now have a list of attendees, too, to keep aides from interrupting.

“If you’re not on the list, you can’t get into the meeting,” an unnamed aide told Politico.

The President himself has even taken up a new tone toward his chief of staff, reportedly telling advisers to check with “The General” before rubber stamping new proposals, sources told Bloomberg. That’s a far cry from Trump’s “Don’t tell Reince” posture under his former chief of staff, Reince Priebus, an anonymous White House aide said. 

Despite Kelly’s push to bring order to a chaotic White House, it’s been a politically damaging month for the President. He was reluctant to immediately and fulsomely condemn white nationalists after a car attack at a rally in Charlottesville, Virginia earlier this month. He also vowed to shut down the government in order to get funding for his U.S.-Mexico border wall, and has been antagonizing the congressional GOP leadership on Twitter. 

Nevertheless, one unnamed senior congressional aide told Bloomberg that Republicans in Congress do have more confidence in the White House and Trump’s ability to understand their concerns with Kelly in charge.

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