John Kelly, get out your typewriter!

United States President Donald Trump's chief of staff John Kelly will leave his job by year's end amid an expected West Wing reshuffle 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 Mr Trump's top choice to replace Mr 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 said as he left the White House for the Army-Navy football game in Philadelphia.

Mr 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 allies of the US President, 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 Mr Trump via tweet in July 2017 from his perch atop the Homeland Security Department to try to normalise a White House riven by infighting and competing power bases.

"John Kelly will be leaving — I don't know if I can say retiring — but he's a great guy," Mr 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."

Mr Kelly had early successes, including ending an open-door Oval Office policy 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 Mr Trump.

But those efforts also miffed the President and some of his most influential outside allies, who had grown accustomed to unimpeded access.

Mr 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 Mr Kelly had lied to them about when he found out about the allegations.

Mr Trump and Mr Ayers were working out terms under which Mr Ayers would fill the role and the time commitment he would make, the White House official said.

Mr Trump wants his next chief of staff to agree to hold the job through the 2020 election.

Mr 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.

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

Jenifer (Zarknorph) said:

Donald Trump's lawyers continue the US President's impeachment defence, but a report from the New York Times renews calls for fresh witnesses in the Senate trial.

This may be the moment that Trump is doomed.

But if some Republicans don't break ranks now, then the US has really set sail for a very dark place.

BerrySteph said:

But if some Republicans don't break ranks now, then the US has really set sail for a very dark place.

It set sail in November 2016.

Now it's just careening over a cliff.

Jenifer (Zarknorph) said:

Now it's just careening over a cliff.

The US might draw back from the abyss.

the Guardian

John Bolton's bombshell Trump book: eight of its most stunning claims

White House tried to block publication of The Room Where It Happened, but the book has been leaked to media outlets

Read more from the Guardian

1. Trump pleaded with China to help win the 2020 election

According to the excerpt of Bolton’s book published by the Wall Street Journal, Trump asked China to use its economic power to help him win a second election.

In one instance, Trump and President Xi Jinping were discussing hostility to China in the US. “Trump then, stunningly, turned the conversation to the coming US presidential election, alluding to China’s economic capability and pleading with Xi to ensure he’d win,” Bolton writes.

“He stressed the importance of farmers and increased Chinese purchases of soybeans and wheat in the electoral outcome. I would print Trump’s exact words, but the government’s prepublication review process has decided otherwise.”

2. Trump suggested he was open to serving more than two terms

In another eye-opening exchange published in the Wall Street Journal, Trump also seems to support Xi’s idea of eliminating presidential term limits. “Xi said he wanted to work with Trump for six more years, and Trump replied that people were saying that the two-term constitutional limit on presidents should be repealed for him,” Bolton writes. “Xi said the US had too many elections, because he didn’t want to switch away from Trump, who nodded approvingly.”

Continued...

3. Trump offered favors to dictators

Bolton’s book reportedly details cases where Trump tried to kill criminal investigations as favors to dictators. One incident published in the Washington Post includes a 2018 discussion with the Turkish president, Recep Erdogan. Bolton says Erdogan gave Trump a memo claiming that a Turkish firm under investigation in the US was innocent. “Trump then told Erdogan he would take care of things, explaining that the southern district prosecutors were not his people, but were Obama people, a problem that would be fixed when they were replaced by his people.”

4. Trump praised Xi for China’s internment camps

According to Bolton, Trump was also approving when Xi defended China’s internment of Uighur Muslims in detention camps. “According to our interpreter,” Bolton writes, “Trump said that Xi should go ahead with building the camps, which Trump thought was exactly the right thing to do.”

According to leaked Communist party documents published in November, at least 1 million Uighur Muslims are detained in the camps.

5. Trump defended Saudi Arabia to distract from a story about Ivanka

Trump made headlines in November 2018 when he released a bizarre statement defending the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman over the killing of Jamal Khashoggi. It included lines such as “The world is a very dangerous place!” and “maybe he did and maybe he didn’t!”

According to Bolton’s book, making headlines was the point. A story about his daughter Ivanka using her personal email for government business was also in the news at the time. After waging war on Hilary Clinton during the 2016 campaign for doing the same thing, Trump need a distraction.

“This will divert from Ivanka,” Trump reportedly said. “If I read the statement in person, that will take over the Ivanka thing.”

Continued

6. Trump’s top staff mocked him behind his back

From what has been reported, it sounds like Bolton’s book provides one of the clearest insights into the despair of Trump’s top officials behind the scenes.

In one example given by the New York Times, Bolton claims he received a note from the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, after Trump’s 2018 meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, simply saying, “He is so full of shit.” On top of this, Pompeo also allegedly said a month later that Trump’s diplomatic efforts with North Korea had “zero probability of success”.

7. Trump thought Finland was part of Russia

Bolton’s book reportedly details some giant holes in Trump’s knowledge. In one instance, Bolton says Trump didn’t seem to know basic knowledge about the UK, asking its former prime minister Theresa May: “Oh, are you a nuclear power?”. On top of this, he also alleges that Trump once asked if Finland was part of Russia, and repeatedly mixed up the current and former presidents of Afghanistan.

8. Trump thought it would be ‘cool’ to invade Venezuela

According to the Washington Post, Bolton claims Trump said invading Venezuela would be “cool”, and that the country was “really part of the United States”.