WH Chief of Staff John Kelly, Deputy NSA Mira Ricardel, and DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen Might All Be Fired from Trump Administration

Some of this has to do with feuding with... Melania Trump.

NBC:

"There have been instances where the East Wing staff were not treated as equals to the male-dominated decision makers in Chief Kelly’s office," one White House official said. "Promotions were denied then finally granted after months of requests," the official said.

Melania Trump raised concerns with her husband earlier this year, amid the height of the controversy over his alleged affair with porn actress Stormy Daniels, that Kelly had repeatedly denied her requests to promote some of her aides, two White House officials told NBC News.

The requests languished for months as Kelly insisted there weren’t enough available positions for the first lady’s aides to have senior titles, these people said. During this same period however, West Wing officials working for Kelly received promotions, the White House officials said.

Having learned of the dispute, the president was furious and told Kelly to give the first lady, who has a smaller East Wing staff than her recent predecessors, what she wanted, these people said. "I don't need this shit," Trump told Kelly, according to one person familiar with the conversation.

...

Kelly has also sparred with the East Wing over travel arrangements for the first lady's staff, people familiar with the issue said. He often wouldn't reserve space for Melania Trump's two aides on Air Force One or on helicopters. They would find themselves without hotel rooms and not listed for motorcade movements. The omissions have caused last-minute logistical issues that the first lady viewed as a slight, these people said.

Meanwhile, Mira Ricardel also drew the First Lady's ire:

One of the sources said that their dealings over the trip "didn't go well." The other source said that Melania Trump felt that Ricardel tried to short-change the first lady in terms of U.S. government resources allocated to support her Africa tour.

The sources did not elaborate on the clash over resources.

...

A source familiar with Ricardel's White House performance said Ricardel also ran afoul of much of the NSC staff and "sort of alienated everyone" except for Bolton, the veteran conservative foreign policy expert who has been Ricardel's immediate superior.

Melania isn't using the normal route of whispers and leaks to express her anger at Ricardel: she's publicly declaring she no longer deserves "the honor" of working at the White House:

Meanwhile, Trump is reportedly also looking to eject DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, who is reported to be a close ally of John Kelly:

Kirstjen Nielsen, his secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, is potentially the next to go, multiple officials with knowledge of the matter said. Her departure could portend another high-profile exit: chief of staff John Kelly, Nielsen's top advocate in the administration.

Trump could ask Nielsen to resign in the coming days, multiple officials familiar with the matter predicted, describing the President's continued frustration at her handling of his signature issue: immigration and border security.

posted by Ace of Spades at 03:19 PM

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