Bernstein Says John Kelly Should Resign and Be Ready to Testify

Carl Bernstein on Tuesday said that White House chief of staff John Kelly should resign from his position and be ready to testify under oath before Congress about what he has witnessed first hand as a member of President Trump’s inner circle.

Bernstein’s’ call for Kelly to resign came after the publication of excerpts of a bombshell new book about the Trump administration written by Bernstein’s partner from Watergate, Bob Woodward.  “Fear: Trump in the White House,” the new book by Woodward, paints a very disturbing portrait of Donald Trump and his presidency, based on many in-depth interviews of people close to the White House.

“It would seem to me that Gen. Kelly, in the interest of the country, needs to resign and with a statement that says, ‘The presidency can no longer be entrusted to this man,'” Bernstein said on CNN after reviewing the contents of the book, where he also advised Kelly on what he should write in a resignation statement.

“‘We now have a picture of what we’ve all been dealing with here,'” Bernstein said the chief of staff should write in a resignation. “‘I will be happy to appear before committees of Congress … and tell them what I have seen about this president of the United States and whether or not he is competent and able to lead the United States.'”

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Brian Stelter, host of CNN’s Reliable Sources, posted the following tweet about his interview:

“Carl Bernstein says Bob Woodward’s book is chilling: “The people closest to the president of the US, in his W.H. and in his admin, are saying that they see their job as protecting the US FROM the president of the US. That he is a danger to the republic…”

According to excerpts from the book published by The Washington Post, Kelly told White House aides that Trump is “unhinged” and “an idiot,”adding it is “pointless” to advise the president.

Bernstein on CNN said “given what he is quoted as saying by Bob Woodward in this book,” it would be an act of “great patriotism” for Kelly to resign.

Bernstein said Woodward is able to prove the accounts in his book.

“There are so many tape recordings from his sources that the account, the narrative accounts, are based on,” Bernstein said. “We finally are inside the Trump White House and it is a horror show.”

“He’s an idiot,” Kelly is quoted as saying in the excerpts published by the Post. “It’s pointless to try to convince him of anything. He’s gone off the rails. We’re in Crazytown. I don’t even know why any of us are here.”

“This is the worst job I’ve ever had,†Kelly added, according to Woodward.

Kelly has gone on record denying that he called the president an “idiot.”

“The idea I ever called the president an idiot is not true,” Kelly said in a statement on Tuesday. “This is another pathetic attempt to smear people close to President Trump and distract from the administration’s many successes.”

Kelly is expected to depart from the White House soon, but it is unclear when he will leave or who Trump might choose as his new chief of staff.



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