5 things to know about new White House chief of staff John Kelly

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In an unexpected move, President Trump announced on Twitter that his Chief of Staff Reince Priebus was out and former Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly is in.
USA TODAY

The White House announced that chief of staff Reince Priebus was stepping down amid a nasty public feud with White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci. President Trump named Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly to replace him. 

Here are five things to know about the 66-year-old Boston native with a reputation for blunt talk. 

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He was a four-star Marine general

Kelly served more than 40 years in the Marine Corps after first enlisting in 1970. He was promoted to brigadier general in 2002 and led Marines in Iraq. He served as the commanding general of the Multi-National Forces West in Iraq from 2008 to 2009. In 2012, Kelly was put in charge of the United States Southern Command, overseeing military operations in 32 countries in the Caribbean and Central and South America. He held that position until January 2016.

He lost his son in Afghanistan 

Kelly’ became the highest-ranking American military officer to lose a child in the post-9/11 war on terror after his son, Marine Lt. Robert Michael Kelly, was killed in action on Nov. 9. 2010 in Afghanistan. Kelly sees America’s counterterrorism efforts in stark terms, telling a crowd in 2013, “I don’t know why they hate us, and frankly I don’t care, but they do hate us and are driven irrationally to our destruction.” 

He butted heads with Obama 

Kelly was critical of the Obama administration’s push to open combat roles to women. He said the move was “agenda-driven” and would lead to lowering the military’s standards. Kelly also opposed Obama’s efforts to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay. 

He was confirmed with bipartisan support

The Senate voted 88-11 to confirm Kelly as secretary of Homeland Security just hours after Trump’s inauguration. As the head of DHS, his tough border policies may have rankled some Democrats, but he is still respected on both sides of the aisle, largely because of his long military career. 

He is tough on immigration 

Kelly has been the point man on Trump’s anti-immigration policies. He has defended plans for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and has been in charge of implementing the president’s travel ban targeting six majority-Muslim countries. He has also defended Trump’s fight against sanctuary cities. 

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Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly (R), Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (L) and Attorney General Jeff Sessions prepare to give remarks related to a reconstituted travel ban during a news conference at the U.S. Customs and Borders Protection headquarters, on March 6, 2017 in Washington, DC. Earlier in the day President Trump signed an executive order that excluded Iraq from the blacklisted countries but continues to block entry to the U.S. for citizens of Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Iran, Libya and Yemen. Kelly, Tillerson and Sessions left the news conference without taking questions.  
Mark Wilson, Getty Images

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