President Donald Trump praised his new chief of staff, former Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, after Kelly’s swearing-in on Monday.
“We have a fantastic leader,” Trump said.
“He will do a spectacular job, I have no doubt, as chief of staff,” Trump said of Kelly, seated next to him in the Oval Office. “What he’s done in terms of homeland security is record-shattering. You look at the border, you look at the tremendous results we’ve had and you look at the spirit. And with a very controversial situation there has been very little controversy, which is pretty amazing by itself.”
“So I want to congratulate you on having done a fantastic job, general, and we look forward to, if it’s possible, an even better job as chief of staff,” he continued, before telling the press, referring to an upcoming Cabinet meeting: “We’ll see you in the boardroom.”
Responding to a reporter’s question, Trump reiterated much of a celebratory Monday morning tweet, hyping stock market highs, low unemployment and, “according to polls,” high “business spirit.” He added that his administration had a “tremendous base” and a “tremendous group of support.”
“We have a fantastic leader, chief of staff, he’s going to do a really great job,” Trump concluded, before saying again: “Thank you very much, we’ll see you in the boardroom.”