Unlike other people interviewed by Mueller who served on the Trump transition team, Kelly joined Trump's staff much later.

White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, who is reported not to be on speaking terms with Donald Trump anymore, was interviewed by special counsel Robert Mueller’s team as part of the Russia probe, CNN reported on Friday.

Earlier today, per the Inquisitr, reports emerged that Kelly, whose relationship with Trump has apparently taken a turn for the worse, was set to leave the White House in the coming days. It is apparently a mutual decision, although Kelly was allegedly becoming increasingly frustrated with Trump repeatedly bypassing the protocols established by the retired Marine Corps general since taking over as the White House Chief of Staff in July 2017.

Now, on the heels of reports claiming that Kelly is leaving the White House because his relationship with Trump is no longer “sustainable,” CNN is reporting that Robert Mueller’s team questioned John Kelly. The subject of this questioning, per CNN, lies in relation to the investigation as to whether or not Trump obstructed justice by firing former FBI director James Comey. It is a departure of sorts from the other subjects questioned by Mueller’s team — in that Kelly was not part of the Trump transition team — and it is therefore believed that Mueller’s team kept the questions restricted to the “obstruction” angle.

Some of the details as to what Kelly might have been questioned about have also been reported. For instance, Mueller’s team was most interested in knowing Kelly’s recollection of an episode that reportedly took place after some reports had detailed how Trump had gone about firing Comey.

White House counsel Emmet Flood was reportedly hesitant to let Mueller’s team have an interview with Kelly — but finally relented after establishing “ground rules” which stated that the special counsel’s team could only question the retired Marine Corps general on the “obstruction” angle, and nothing more.

Also on Friday morning, Mueller’s team is set to file sentencing memos on former Trump associates Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen, both of whom have pleaded guilty to several crimes. The report, which is unreleased at the time of writing, has already prompted a response from the president on Twitter. He accused Mueller’s investigation of being steeped in “conflicts of interest” in a Twitter barrage Friday morning, leading former CIA director John Brennan to characterize Trump’s behavior as “increasingly desperate.”</s>Washington (CNN) John Kelly is expected to resign as White House chief of staff in the coming days, two sources familiar with the situation unfolding in the West Wing tell CNN.

Seventeen months in, Kelly and President Donald Trump have reached a stalemate in their relationship and it is no longer seen as tenable by either party. Though Trump asked Kelly over the summer to stay on as chief of staff for two more years , the two have stopped speaking in recent days.

Trump is actively discussing a replacement plan, though a person involved in the process said nothing is final right now and ultimately nothing is final until Trump announces it. Potential replacements include Nick Ayers, Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff, who is still seen as a leading contender

Kelly has been on the verge of resigning or being fired before, only to bounce back every time. But aides feel the relationship can't be salvaged this time. Trump is becoming increasingly concerned about Democrats taking over the House in January, and has privately said he needs someone else to help shape the last two years of his first term, which he predicts will be politically focused. He has complained repeatedly that Kelly is not politically savvy.

The expected departure would end a tumultuous tenure for Kelly, who was brought on to bring order to the White House but whose time as chief of staff has often been marked by the same infighting and controversy that has largely defined Trump's presidency from its beginning. Many of the storms in which Kelly became embroiled were by his own making.</s>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In another staff shake-up of his often turbulent administration, President Donald Trump said on Friday he had picked the two people he wants to be the next U.S. attorney general and next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Trump said he will nominate former Attorney General William Barr to fill the top job at the U.S. Justice Department again, and that he will put forward State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert as ambassador to the United Nations. Both are posts that have to be confirmed by the Senate.

Trump also said he would make another personnel announcement on Saturday.

“It will have to do with the joint chiefs of staff, the succession,” he told reporters outside the White House, suggesting he may name a new top U.S. military officer.

Separately, CNN reported on Friday that John Kelly is expected to resign as White House chief of staff in coming days, citing unnamed sources. Reuters has not independently confirmed the report.</s>President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that his chief of staff John Kelly would be leaving the position by the end of the year.

Trump made the announcement on the White House South Lawn before departing for the Navy vs. Army football game.

"John Kelly will be leaving at the end of the year. We will announce who will be taking John's place," Trump said, adding that there might be an interim chief of staff. "I appreciate his service very much."

Kelly's departure has been expected, according to sources within the White House.

His tenure has been marred by conflict since he took the position in the summer of last year. Reports have described disagreements between Kelly, the president and West Wing staff.

Recent clashes with first lady Melania Trump made his already tenuous position even more so, NBC News reported last month.

Kelly, a retired four-star Marine general, initially began his tenure in the Trump administration serving as the secretary of Homeland Security. He was tapped by Trump as chief of staff in July 2017 after his predecessor, Reince Priebus, was ousted following six months on the job.

During his time in the West Wing, speculation mounted that Kelly has been frustrated and exhausted by his role and Trump's temperament.

Among the leading candidates to replace him is Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff, Nick Ayers.

Outgoing House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said in a statement that Kelly was departing "what is often a thankless job" and called him a "force for order."

“John Kelly is a patriot. Service to America is part of his DNA, and our country is better for his duty at the White House," Ryan said.

Trump also announced on Saturday that he had picked Gen. Mark Milley as his nominee to succeed Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"Mark Milley, he is a great gentleman, he’s a great patriot, he’s a great soldier," Trump said Saturday.

On Friday, Trump announced he plans to nominate William Barr for attorney general.

Milley and Barr both must be confirmed by the Senate before assuming the positions.

If confirmed by the Senate, it would be Barr's second stint as head of the Justice Department. He served as attorney general from 1991 to 1993 under President George H.W. Bush.</s>BUENOS AIRES: President Donald Trump will attend the state funeral of former president George H W Bush, who has died at 94, the White House said Saturday.

Trump's spokeswoman said: "A state funeral is being arranged with all of the accompanying support and honours.

The president will designate Wednesday, December 5th as a National Day Of Mourning. He and the first lady will attend the funeral at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC.

ALSO READ | PM Narendra Modi hails George HW Bush as leading statesman passionate about strong Indo-US ties

Bush, the 41st American president, died at home in Houston on Friday. Trump did not attend the funeral of Bush's wife Barbara, the matriarch of the family, who died in April.

The invitation-only service at St Martin's Episcopal Church in Houston included Bush's successor Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, as well as other former senior officials.

The White House attributed Trump's absence to his desire to avoid disruptions, though First Lady Melania Trump was present.

A book published last year said Bush voted for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election and called Donald Trump a "blowhard" who was driven by "a certain ego.

" The revelations were contained in historian Mark Updegrove's "The Last Republicans.

I don't like him," the elder Bush told Updegrove in May 2016 before the elections in November of that year "I don't know much about him, but I know he's a blowhard.

And I'm not too excited about him being (our) leader. His son George W Bush left his ballot blank and said of Trump: "This guy doesn't know what it means to be president.

The book's title was inspired by the younger Bush's concerns that he had been "the last Republican president" -- not just because Clinton was seen as favourite to win the election, but because Trump represented a major break from traditional conservatism.

Trump was not invited to the funeral of another prominent Republican critic, the late senator John McCain who died in August.

McCain's daughter Meghan delivered a powerful rebuke to Trump at the funeral, telling mourners: "The America of John McCain has no need to be made great again because America was always great.</s>White House Chief of Staff John Kelly will step down by the end of this year, US President Donald Trump has said, confirming that he will announce a replacement “over the next day or two”. The 68-year-old retired Marine Corps general has been President Trump’s Chief of Staff since July 31, 2017. In the first seven months of the Trump administration, Kelly was the secretary of Homeland Security.

“John Kelly will be leaving – I don’t know if I can say ‘retiring’. But, he’s a great guy. John Kelly will be leaving at the end of the year,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Saturday. “We will be announcing who will be taking John’s place…I shall be announcing that over the next day or two. But, John will be leaving at the end of the year. He has been with me almost two years now,” Trump said.

Nick Ayers, the 36-year-old chief of staff to the vice-president Mike Pence, is Kelly’s likely successor. There were reports that the relationship between Trump and Kelly had deteriorated to such an extent that the two were no longer on speaking terms.

Kelly, who was brought in by Trump after he fired Reince Priebus, has been instrumental in bringing in a sense of discipline inside the White House.

 Kelly was one of the several generals appointed by Trump to key roles, including defense secretary Jim Mattis, and former national security advisers Michael Flynn and HR McMaster.

According to a report in ‘The Wall Street Journal’, the relationship between Kelly and Trump had completely broken down, leading the president to tell an associate to “stop calling John” and to instead “call Nick, he’s my guy”. Veteran journalist Bob Woodward wrote in his bestselling book ‘Fear’ that Kelly called Trump an “idiot” at the head of a “Crazytown” administration.

Kelly, however, denied such reports and stayed in post. In France in November for events marking the 100th anniversary of the end of the first world war, Kelly visited an American cemetery outside Paris while Trump remained in the city, the White House insisting rain made a presidential visit impractical.

Kelly’s exit from the White House is the latest in a series of reshuffles in the Trump administration. On Friday, Trump said he will nominate William Barr his attorney general, replacing Matthew Whitaker who was named acting attorney general only a month ago. Whitaker replaced Jeff Sessions in the top Justice Department post.

Sessions was fired after months of being attacked and ridiculed by the president on November 7. Trump appointed State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert as the US’ next ambassador to the UN, replacing Indian-origin Nikki Haley who said in October that she would step down at the end of the year.

McMaster was replaced on March 22 with John Bolton as the national security adviser. Scott Pruitt, the Environmental Protection Agency chief quit on July 5. Former secretary of state Rex Tillerson was fired by Trump on March 13 after rifts between them. On Friday, Trump tweeted that Tillerson was “dumb as a rock” and “lazy as hell”.

James Comey, the FBI director, who led the Russia probe before Mueller, was fired by Trump in May last year. Michael Flynn resigned in February last year as Trump’s national security adviser. Earlier in the day, Trump nominated General Mark Milley as his next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the nation’s top military advisor. If confirmed by the Senate, Gen Milley would replace General Joe Dunford who is scheduled to retire next summer. Milley currently is Chief of Staff of the Army. Trump described Gen Milley as a “great gentleman and a great patriot”.</s>
• President Donald Trump said Saturday that White House Chief of Staff John Kelly is on his way out.
• Trump told reporters on the White House South Lawn that Kelly will be leaving “at the end of the year” and he will announce his replacement in the next day or two.
• Trump said last month he was considering several Cabinet changes, though he wouldn’t say if Kelly was included in the positions he was questioning.
• Despite Kelly saying in June he would be with Trump until 2020, clashes within the White House in recent months cast doubt on Kelly’s future with the administration.

President Donald Trump said Saturday that White House Chief of Staff John Kelly is on his way out of the administration.

Trump told reporters on the White House South Lawn that Kelly will be leaving “at the end of the year” and he will announce his replacement in the next day or two.

Trump added that Kelly had been with him for two years and is “a great guy.”

Business Insider has reached out to the White House for comment and will update this post with any response.

Nick Ayers, who currently serves as Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff, has long been suspected as Kelly’s likely replacement. Reports that Trump wanted to replace Kelly with Ayers have dated back to 2017.

Recent reports said Kelly was planning to resign in early December after a feud with Trump became so bad that the two were not on speaking terms. Kelly told staffers in July that he would stay on until 2020, but clashes with Trump seemed to cast doubt on that resolution.

In November, it was reported that Kelly may leave his position soon over repeated clashes with the first lady Melania Trump. NBC News reported that Kelly refused to promote some of her aides, prompting Trump to tell his chief of staff to give the first lady what she wanted.

A spokeswoman for the first lady then told INSIDER that Kelly and Melania Trump had “a very positive relationship.”

Rumors of Kelly’s departure swirled again after Trump abruptly requested Attorney General Jeff Sessions‘ resignation a day after the midterms.

In a Fox News interview last month, Trump railed against the rumors as “disgusting fake news” that reported the potential staff shakeup “like it’s fiction,” before saying he was considering up to five Cabinet changes.

“I have three or four or five positions that I’m thinking about,” Trump said. “Of that, maybe it’s going to end up being two. But I need flexibility.”

Trump then praised Kelly and admitted that clashes with Kelly, most recently after the chief of staff’s office had neglected personnel requests from first lady Melania Trump’s office, had worn on their relationship.

“We get along well,” Trump said. “There are certain things I love that he does, and there are certain things I don’t like that he does that aren’t his strength.”

Trump then admitted Kelly would most likely not be with the administration for the 2020 election.

“I haven’t even thought about John in terms of this,” he added. “But John at some point is going to want to move on.”

This story is developing. Please check back for updates.</s>White House chief of staff John Kelly is expected to resign soon, according to multiple reports.

READ MORE: Donald Trump won’t commit to keeping John Kelly as chief of staff

Sources told CNN that Kelly and U.S. President Donald Trump have stopped speaking and that Kelly will resign “in the coming days.”

Kelly, a retired general and the former secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, has been chief of staff since July 2017. He replaced Reince Priebus, who had held the job for six months.

READ MORE: Nick Ayers, 36, could replace John Kelly as Donald Trump’s chief of staff

Nick Ayers, who is currently chief of staff for Vice President Mike Pence, is the front-runner to replace Kelly, according to Axios and ABC News.

In an interview on Fox News in November, Trump wouldn’t commit to keeping Kelly on, saying there were “certain things that I don’t like that he does.”

WATCH: Trump says happy with ‘most of’ his cabinet, calls Mueller investigation a ‘hoax’ once more

“There are a couple of things where it’s just not his strength. It’s not his fault. It’s not his strength,” Trump said.

Trump had earlier pledged publicly that Kelly would remain through his first term in office, though many in the West Wing were skeptical.

For his part, Kelly has joked that he didn’t want to leave his position at Homeland Security, but that he “did something wrong and God punished me.”

WATCH: ‘I did something wrong and God punished me’: John Kelly jokes about tenure in White House

*More to come</s>WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Saturday that chief of staff John Kelly will leave his job by year’s end amid an expected West Wing reshuffling reflecting a focus on the 2020 re-election campaign and the challenge of governing with Democrats reclaiming control of the House.

Nick Ayers, Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff, is Trump’s top choice to replace Kelly, and the two have held discussions for months about the job, a White House official said. An announcement was expected in the coming days, the president told reporters as he left the White House for the Army-Navy football game in Philadelphia.

Kelly had been credited with imposing order on a chaotic West Wing after his arrival in June 2017 from his post as homeland security secretary. But his iron first also alienated some longtime Trump allies, and he grew increasingly isolated, with an increasingly diminished role.

Known through the West Wing as “the chief” or “the general,” the retired Marine Corps four-star general was tapped by Trump via tweet in July 2017 from his perch atop the Homeland Security Department to try to normalize a White House riven by infighting and competing power bases.

“John Kelly will leaving — I don’t know if I can say retiring — but he’s a great guy,” Trump said. “John Kelly will be leaving at the end of the year. We’ll be announcing who will be taking John’s place — it might be on an interim basis. I’ll be announcing that over the next day or two, but John will be leaving at the end of the year. … I appreciate his service very much.”

Kelly had early successes, including ending an open-door Oval Office policy that that had been compared to New York’s Grand Central Station and instituting a more rigorous policy process to try to prevent staffers from going directly to Trump.

But those efforts also miffed the president and some of his most influential outside allies, who had grown accustomed to unimpeded access. Kelly’s handling of domestic violence accusations against the former White House staff secretary also caused consternation, especially among lower-level White House staffers, who believed Kelly had lied to them about when he found out about the allegations.

Lauding Kelly, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said the country was “better for his duty at the White House.” He called Kelly “a force for order, clarity and good sense.”

Trump and Ayers were working out terms under which Ayers would fill the role and the time commitment he would make, the White House official said. Trump wants his next chief of staff to agree to hold the job through the 2020 election. Ayers, who has young triplets, had long planned to leave the administration at the end of the year, but he has agreed to serve in an interim basis through the spring of 2019.

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive personnel matters.

Word of Kelly’s impending departure comes a day after Trump named his picks for attorney general and ambassador to the United Nations, and two senior aides shifted from the White House to Trump’s campaign.

In any administration, the role of White House chief of staff is split between the responsibilities of supervising the White House and managing the man sitting in the Oval Office. Striking that balance in the turbulent times of Trump has bedeviled both Kelly and his predecessor, Reince Priebus.

White House aides say Trump has developed confidence in Ayers, in part by watching the effectiveness of Pence’s largely independent political operation. Ayers also earned the backing of Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, the president’s daughter and son-in-law and senior advisers, for taking on the new role, White House officials said.

The Georgia native’s meteoric rise in GOP politics included a successful stint at the Republican Governors Association, time as campaign manager for former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s failed White House bid and consultant work for dozens of high-profile Republicans, including Pence.

Ayers, 36, would be the youngest chief of staff since 34-year-old Hamilton Jordan served under Jimmy Carter. Kelly is 68.

Trump had discussed replacing Kelly on multiple occasions, including following the negative publicity surrounding Kelly’s handling of domestic violence accusations against then-White House staff secretary Rob Porter. Some lower-level White House staffers believed Kelly had lied to them about when he knew of the allegations and when he made clear to Porter that he’d have to leave.

Trump had often tossed around potential replacements, but sensitive to charges that his administration has been marked by record turnover, he said in July that he would keep Kelly in the job through 2020.

But inside the White House, it was viewed largely as an attempt to clamp down on speculation about Kelly’s fate during the midterm elections, rather than a true vote of confidence.

Kelly, too, made no secret of the trials of his job, and often joked about how working for Trump was harder than anything he’d done before, including on the battlefield. In private, Kelly, whom friends said took the job out of a sense of duty to his country, cast himself as safeguarding the public from an impulsive and mercurial president. Reports of those conversations infuriated the president, who is especially sensitive of attacks on his competence and perceptions he is being managed.

At an event celebrating the 15th anniversary of the Department of Homeland Security, Kelly joked that he missed everyone in the department “every day,” offering a deadpan eye roll and smile that drew laughs and applause.

“At six months, the last thing I wanted to do was walk away from one of the great honors of my life, being the secretary of Homeland Security, but I did something wrong and God punished me, I guess,” he joked.

Kelly, who had threatened to quit on several occasions, told friends he would be happy if he lasted until his one-year anniversary: July 28.

Associated Press writers Michele Salcedo and Catherine Lucey contributed to this report.

Follow Miller on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ZekeJMiller and Colvin at https://twitter.com/colvinj</s>President Donald Trump on Friday accelerated a long-anticipated shake-up of his Cabinet in the wake of the midterm elections, naming new picks for attorney general and U.N. ambassador amid widespread speculation that the embattled White House chief of staff John Kelly could soon depart.

Trump confirmed his choices of William Barr to lead the Justice Department and Heather Nauert for the United Nations post as he left the White House, speaking to reporters over the din of whirring blades from Marine One.

If confirmed by the Senate, Barr will take over for acting attorney general Matthew Whitaker. An unfettered Trump installed him in place of the ousted Jeff Sessions less than 24 hours after the polls closed on Nov. 6 in the first move of an expected overhaul of Cabinet secretaries and senior White House aides.

After a CNN report Friday morning that Kelly could be stepping down in a matter of days, Trump did not pause long enough to take questions from reporters, though he teased he would make another big personnel announcement Saturday at the Army-Navy game in Philadelphia.

"I can give you a little hint: It will have to do with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and succession," Trump said.

Kelly was not at work Friday morning, though an ally said he was simply taking a day off and would be at the White House for a holiday staff dinner Friday night. The lights were off in his West Wing office.

He has not been asked to resign, this person said, requesting anonymity to speak candidly about a personnel matter.

Among White House officials, however, there is broad consensus that his days as chief of staff are numbered.

One senior administration official said Friday that it's clear Kelly will be leaving though said it's not certain that the departure was imminent as CNN reported. The official requested anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter.

Trump has engaged in talks with Nick Ayers, the vice president's chief of staff, about taking over the position, advisers said. The president often remarks on Kelly's lack of political skills and has told advisers in recent days that he needs a more political chief of staff for his reelection. Ayers, a sharp-elbowed and ambitious Georgia operative, fits the bill, advisers said.

But the story line of Kelly's departure has been protracted for so many months that White House aides often now just shrug.

"Sure, Trump says he wants him gone, and Kelly swears and leaves and says he's not coming back. But then he comes back," said one former senior administration official, who requested anonymity to offer a candid assessment.

Kelly, a retired four-star Marine Corps general, has been the president's top aide since late July 2017. Trump has chafed at Kelly's management style and resisted some of his moves to instill discipline in the West Wing and contain chaos. In recent months, the chief of staff's power has ebbed, with administration policies and decisions being guided more by the president's gut instincts than by Kelly's processes.

Washington has been abuzz with rumors about Kelly's job status have been rampant at various moments during his 16-month tenure. But this past summer, Kelly sought to quiet speculation that he was nearing the exist because of tensions with Trump by telling senior staff that he intended to remain as chief of staff through Trump's 2020 reelection campaign.

Trump and Kelly have privately argued at times and complained about one another to confidants, sometimes in colorful language. But the two men are generational peers have a measure of respect for one another, and they have bonded over their shared ideology, especially on immigration issues, and their mutual grievances toward the media and political establishment.

Trump has long admired Kelly for his military valor, but his lack of political experience and interest in campaign strategy has made him an imperfect fit leading the staff of a president who lives and breathes politics. As Trump prepares for his 2020 reelection campaign, some advisers have counseled him to replace Kelly with a sharper operative who can steer the administration through the daily - and hourly - political fights sure to come.

Trump had nothing but praise for the two new Cabinet members who he announced Friday that he would nominate for the Senate.

He told reporters that Barr, who led the Justice Department under former president George H.W. Bush, was "my first choice since day one" and said is "a terrific man, a terrific person, a brilliant man."

Nauert, 48, joined the State Department last year with no government experience after a career as an anchor and correspondent at Fox News.

“She’s very talented, very smart, very quick, and I think she’s going to be respected by all,” Trump said.
White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly is set to resign by the end of the month according to U.S. President Donald Trump.